


Nintendo Legacy

by Anomynous_Nin



Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-05 22:18:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 69,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11022723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anomynous_Nin/pseuds/Anomynous_Nin
Summary: Long ago, there exists a legend that tells of two powerful swords that once battled against one another, shaping the war-torn world as it is. The two swords vanished after their final clash, and what resulted is the land finally achieving peace, healing and progressing towards a better tomorrow. Centuries have passed, and the legend has resurfaced itself when a mysterious man seeks the power of the accursed sword to bring calamity upon the land. One unlikely hero was caught right in the middle of it, and he embarks on an epic adventure where he explores the strange land and meets new friends and foes, chosen by the holy sword.





	1. Awakening of the Soul

_Long ago, in a world that no one has ever been before…_

_There existed an age that has fallen into darkness. An age where tools have been constructed for the sole purpose of exacting dominance over the land. An age where blood has been shed, lives have been taken, and the land was engulfed in the fires of calamity. That… was the age of war._

_Since the beginning of time itself, mankind was born without a single shred of knowledge of its purpose upon the land in which it resided. Despite lacking the knowledge of living, as time went on, mankind has discovered its ability to survive in the strange land, the land’s strange environments and its inhabitants. Over many centuries, the development of mankind has continually progressed, as men learned that they have the power to survive, to live regardless of the obstacles that await them._

_However, soon after, men desired more. They did not want only to survive in the land, but to rule it in its entirety. Each individual shared the same desire, but each of them want to take dominance for themselves. They soon saw one another as another obstacle to get rid of, and they eventually discovered a way to eliminate their living obstacles: the very same power that men has learned over the years._

_Mankind had entered the age of war, an age where the land has been plunged into chaos, where men fought against one another to establish their strength upon the world. It was also the age where tools of survival became tools of war, tools for battle against another living being. It was an age where men revealed the darkness within their souls._

_Their endless chaos spawned for many years. As darkness continues to spread over the land, as lives disappear one by one, their chaotic conquest soon awakened something that is far worse than even a single man. A phenomenon which would destroy the land with its fires of destruction._

_There existed a single sword. An ordinary sword that was being forged to wage war against its enemies. There was nothing that distinguished it from any other swords that were made for the same purpose. However, one day, that very same sword, after it had slain countless of men, after it tasted the blood of numerous warriors, a soul has been awakened within it. A soul that was the result of the chaos created by men. A soul filled with darkness larger than any other souls. The ordinary sword became cursed, as it is capable of overwhelming the soul of its wielder, and used him as a host to create more bloodshed in the most inhumanly way possible. The wielder became a monster whose sole desire is to claim souls. The accursed sword was called by a single name:_

_Soul Edge._

_The sword’s very existence allowed men, who were hungry for more power, to seek it out, to become its wielder in order to become powerful enough to establish their dominance over the land. None of them were aware of its sentience, of its power to overwhelm their souls, and so, many fools fell victim to the sword’s darkness._

_When it was clear that Soul Edge is too dangerous to even exist, an unknown blacksmith decided to create a weapon that can counter the cursed sword. Using the shard of the Soul Edge, as well as using his own soul, the blacksmith succeeded in creating the perfect counterpart of Soul Edge. The newly-forged sword was known to shine as brightly as the heavens, was forged with crystals unlike any that one has seen before, and whoever wielded the sword was blessed with light that can smite any darkness that resided in the land. The holy sword was known by one name:_

_Soul Calibur._

_The spirit sword, Soul Calibur, and the cursed sword, Soul Edge. Two opposing swords with equal strength from one another. It was no longer the war between power-hungry men. It was the war between the two most powerful swords in the world, to decide the fate of humanity as a whole._

_One day, the two wielders of Soul Calibur and Soul Edge finally met in battle. It was the only instance in which the two opposing swords meet in combat. The battle took place in a giant tower, located at the very center of the land. At the peak of their strength, Soul Calibur and Soul Edge both clashed with one another, as the energy of light and darkness radiated across the land._

_It was said that the energy changed the state of the land, its environments, and its living inhabitants, for the better or worse. The swords’ influences spread across the land, across the ocean, ensuring the proof of their existence to the people._

_However, the moment that the two swords clashed with one another, they disappeared, along with the tower where the battle took place. The instant that everyone knew of their existence, they completely vanished from the world. The two swords were never seen again._

_While the swords have disappeared from the world, their influence still lingered. Living among mankind were animals that have gained human intelligence and achieved human characteristics, as well as beings with the ability to change from a man to another creature. Strange creatures suddenly appeared among mankind and they were said to have been created from the swords’ influence. Some of them were already existing animals with special qualities, some were hybrids of two or more beings, some were mythical beasts that were long forgotten, some were inanimate objects given life, some were abominations. While some of them are either neutral or friendly towards other living beings, some are hostile and willing to strike on sight._

_It was also said that some of the people who witnessed the clash of the two swords suddenly developed supernatural powers that expanded after each generation. There was no evidence of such things to exist, but few believed in their existence. And it was also believed that the people had potential to awaken such power. The only question was when and how._

_After the final clash of the swords and their disappearance, the age of war was at an end. Now, mankind was able to live amongst one another, and they were even capable of developing civilizations with different cultures across the land. Remnants of the war still resided, but of a smaller scale compared to before and is well controlled. In this day and age, mankind discovered a life of peace and tranquility._

_But even then, the two swords’ influences still remained. Even when the people of today disregarded the existence of the two swords, there was no other explanations of the strange phenomenon other than the aforementioned battle. It was said that the reason why their influence still spread… was because the two swords still exist, somewhere within the land, waiting for someone worthy to claim them._

_Transcending history and the world. A tale of souls and swords, eternally retold…_

* * *

 

“Emergency! Emergency! We got trouble coming this way!”

Somewhere in the sky, shrouded in dark clouds that float over a mountain of lava, a single individual was seen flying in the air, in a desperate and agitated matter. That individual was best described as a turtle, however he was not an ordinary turtle.

The turtle’s posture seemed more human-like than normal. Along with his green shell that covered the central part of his yellow-skinned body, he wore a pair of green shoes like an ordinary human. Furthermore, his ability to fly came from the wings that are attached to his green shell. To the inhabitants of one region of the world, he was a flight version of a species known as Koopa Troopa, specifically a Paratroopa.

The green-shelled Paratroopa was flying over the lava mountain, desperately on his way towards a large castle that stood over the lava at the very top of the mountain. The intimidating-looking castle was like any other ordinary castle, but it has an unique feature that was visible on the front gate, namely the sculpture of the head of a ferocious beast.

On top of the walls of the castle, numerous of turtles stood watch at each and every corner of the castle, each holding a spear in hand. Their appearance was exactly the same as the Paratroopa, except that some of them wore either red or green shells, and their shells lacked any wings. They were simply known as ordinary Koopas in that region of the world.

As the Koopas continued to watch over the area surrounding the castle, some of them that were stationed on top of the front walls noticed the Paratroopa flying towards them. The guards gathered around as the Paratroopa descended right in front of them, with his hands and knees on the ground, panting from exhaustion. “Hah…! Hah…! E-emergency…!” the Paratroopa gasped.

“Hold it!” stated one of the Koopa guards. “Who are you and what’s your business coming here?” The Paratroopa continued to gasp for air, unable to offer an immediate reply to the guard

“Wait a minute…” said another of the guards, as he started to recognize the exhausted Paratroopa. “I know you! You’re assigned to be on a lookout on one of the airship armadas!” This time around, the Paratroop quickly nodded in reply. “But what are you doing here? Did you abandon ship? Why did you come back here for?”

After a few breaths of air, the Paratroopa tries to speak to the guards as much as he could. “Hah…! Emergency…! Trouble…! We failed…! We couldn’t stop…!”

The first Koopa guard noticed that the Paratroopa, on top of being covered in sweat, had a considerable amount of dirt and ash all over his body. Combined with his attempt to explain the situation, the guard put two and two together and realized the dire situation at hand. “Oh no…” he said, before he ran to the inner edge of the castle wall, as he exclaimed the danger that was about to come. “SOUND THE ALARM!”

* * *

“Alert! Alert! Get to your battle stations! The enemy is coming!” cried out a small person in a red robe, wearing a pair of blue shoes, brown belt, and a white mask, as he ran through every halls of the castle, ringing the bell in his stubby hand as loud as possible. That person is part of a group of people known as Shy Guys.

“I repeat!” yelled the Shy Guy, ringing his bell harder, “The enemy is coming! The big, bad, red guy is coming!”

Once the alarm was heard, numerous of soldiers of the castle came out of their quarters, as they ran into the halls to assume their battle stations. Many of these soldiers consist of many variations of the Koopas, some ordinary, some with wings, some with helmets armed with hammers or boomerangs, some with armour, some that were living skeletons, and some without their shells and were left with tank tops and shorts (though it may be because they forgot to wear their shells and/or they lost them along the way)

Another portion of the soldiers consist of a group of species that resembled small, brown mushrooms with brown feet, called Goombas. Unlike Koopas, Goombas were known to have only two types in particular: an ordinary Goomba, and a Paragoomba.

As for the rest of the soldiers, some of them were Shy Guys wearing different coloured robe, some of them were another kind of turtles, called Lakitus, who wore glasses over their more human-like faces while riding on clouds with a smiley face and carrying spiky turtle shells, called Spinies, some of them were Koopas carrying either pots of giant red plants that resembled Venus flytraps with sharp teeth, known as Piranha Plants, or a large cannon of sorts.

In one of the quarters where the alarm hadn’t reached yet, A red-shelled Koopa, a Goomba, and a blue-robed Shy Guy were sitting under a round table, each carrying a set of cards in front of them (No one questions how a Goomba can hold cards without hands) and a stack of coins on their side.

The Koopa looked over his hand, before looking at his two opponents. The Goomba was seen looking over his own hand, before groaning and folding his cards, as he lost his trust over his hand. The Shy Guy was doing the same thing, except that he didn’t fold his hand. However, he was visibly shaking on the spot. The Koopa smirked, as he showed his cards down on the table. “Straight Flush! I win!” he exclaimed, as his two competitors groaned in defeat while he grabbed the remaining coins to his side.

It was then that the alarm was heard and that the Shy Guy running through the halls went passed the quarters, still shouting out, “Alert! Alert! The enemy is at our door steps! Battle stations, everybody!”

The three card players groaned, as they were forced to get up and get out of their quarters, knowing fully well of what’s to come. “Another day of work, eh?” said the red-shelled Koopa.

“Yep…” said the Shy Guy in the blue robe.

“I still have a headache from last time…” groaned the aching Goomba.

Time had passed, as the news came to every single soldiers in the whole castle, as all of them were assigned to their posts, setting up their weaponry, followed their strategies, and prepared themselves to guard the path that would lead straight to the very heart of the castle, where their master’s precious prisoner resided.

A large group of Goombas were lined up directly in front of the still-closed gate, preparing themselves to fight against the enemy. The apparent leading Goomba turned around to look at his allies to give them some motivation. “Alright, guys! This is it! Remember what we’ve trained for! When the door is open, we’re gonna charge in and overwhelm the enemy! He’s just one guy, after all!”

“Are you kidding?!” cried out a distressed Goomba. “You know who we’re dealing with! He can jump over us, or worse, he’ll stomp on all of our heads!”

“That’s right!” said another distressed Goomba. “I just got over a huge headache just yesterday! I don’t want another one now! Can’t we just keep it closed and hope that he’ll leave?”

“But then, he’s gonna smash the gate open with a hammer!” stated yet another scared Goomba. “We’re doomed either way! There’s no getting away from being stomped by him!”

“What are you, scaredy cats?!” yelled an enraged Goomba. “This is our chance to beat him at his own game! If we beat him here and now, his Majesty is going to reward us! So let’s do this!”

“So… What are we supposed to do?” said a concerned Goomba. “Should we open the gate, or should we leave it closed?”

As the group of Goombas tried to decide which strategy to take against their enemy, trying to figure out how to beat him, a commanding voice suddenly called out to them. “Open the gate!” Hearing the voice, the Goombas all turned towards it and saw a floating, robed creature hovering behind them.

The person was an elderly-looking Koopa wearing a wizard robe and a matching hat, along with a pair of spectacles, and holding a sceptre in his hand. He was part of a Koopa species known as Magikoopa. But this particularly Magikoopa was the leader of the bunch, and was known as Kamek.

“Open the gate!” shouted Kamek at the group of Goombas. “This is the order coming from his Grumpiness himself! He said to settle this here and now!”

The Goombas all nodded at the orders given to them by Kamek, transmitted by their master. And so, as the soldiers all got themselves ready to fight against the enemy, the large wooden gate slowly opened, as light passed through the opening, illuminating the front entrance.

The gate continued to slowly open, as more light continued to shine through it. Just behind the gate, a black silhouette stood there in their view. The sight of the silhouette frightened a few of the soldiers, but they still remained, as per the orders given to them.

The gate was fully opened, as the silhouette was completely shown in their eyes. The bright light from the outside prevented them from seeing the full appearance of the person in front of them. As soon as their eyes began to adjust to the brightness, they were able to see their enemy fully.

It was a single man. A slightly fat man with blue eyes and brown hair, wearing a pair of brown shoes, white gloves, blue overalls and a red shirt under it. The distinguishing features of the man, the ones that everyone was familiar with, were that he had a round nose, wore a red cap with the letter M imprinted on it, and had a fancy looking black mustache on his face. Those features were enough for everyone to recognize who he was.

“Alright…” The man placed his fist on his open palm, as he smiled with confidence at his enemies. “… Let’s-a-go!” said the famed hero of Mushroom Kingdom, Mario.

At the sound of his voice, the leading Goomba let out a battle cry, as all of the Goombas in front of the gate all charged in towards the man clad in red. At the sight of the charging group, Mario started to run towards them as well, still keeping a smile of confidence on his face.

The Goomba group and the mustachio man all charged in towards each other. However, just when the two forces were about to collide, Mario suddenly jumped at the last minute, showing his signature high jumping ability to go over the Goomba army. As the Goombas’ eyes tried to follow Mario as he jumped over them, he ended up landing on a poor Goomba’s head, before jumping off from it and landing on another Goomba’s head, then again, and again, and again, until he finally landed on the ground behind the Goomba army.

Mario sprinted further into the castle, as the Goomba group started to chase after him, despite being clearly outrun by him. As he continued to run through the castle, the man in red soon stopped himself, as he saw a large group of Koopa Troopas running towards him, on top of being chased by the Goomba groups behind him.

One of the Koopas got close to him and lunged forward, attempting to catch Mario in his clutches. Mario easily dodged the lunge by jumping over him, as the two-footed turtle ended up kissing the floor.

Two other Koopas charged at him from different sides and did the same thing, one after the other. Like last time, Mario simply dodged their attacks by jumping over them, as the two Koopas ended up piling themselves on one another.

Mario then decided to run through the Koopa army, dodging each and every single Koopas’ attempt to attack him, moving in a zigzag pattern within the group. He soon stopped himself once more, as he found himself surrounded by the Koopas, who were encircling around him and were moving towards him all together. “Don’t let him get away!” shouted one of the Koopas in the group.

All of the Koopas that surrounded Mario jumped at him at the same time. However, Mario managed to jump away from the attack, leaving the Koopas to pile on top of each other. As Mario jumped over the entire group, a single Koopa just behind the group noticed the man and realized that he was going to land on him. With a short yelp, he shut his eyes closed, as Mario’s feet landed on the poor Koopa’s shell.

But instead of being crushed by Mario, the Koopa was suddenly ejected out of his shell and sliding to a stop in front of the group, leaving himself in his underwear. When he realized that he wasn’t feeling any pain, he opened his eyes, blinked a few times, before looking to see himself out of his shell. “Ah! My precious! Where is it?!” he cried out, desperately looking for his shell around him.

When the Koopa finally found his shell, which was located behind him, he saw that Mario was standing behind it, and was pulling his leg back. It took him a second to realize what Mario was about to do, as he muttered “Ah nuts…” before Mario kicked the shell straight at him, and it proceeded to knock over a few rows of Koopas and Goombas in the back.

“Hah hah!” Mario chuckled. “Strike!” Before he could proceed to run deeper into the castle, a hammer was thrown over his head before hitting the ground. Turning himself around, Mario saw numerous of Koopas wearing helmets and arming themselves with hammers or boomerangs, called Hammer Bros or Boomerang Bros, standing on numerous of platforms made of brown bricks hovering over one after the other.

“Don’t let him get passed here!” yelled one of the Hammer Bros. “Throw everything you got at him!” The helmet-wearing Koopas all proceeded to throw their hammers and boomerangs at Mario.

Mario dodged most of the weapons being thrown at him, but couldn’t find a way to move forward without getting hit. Even as he took a few steps forward, the hammers and boomerangs were always thrown at him at that moment. All he could was dodge until he could find a solution. “Well, now what?” he said, as he dodged another set of hammers by moving to the side.

His eyes then perceived something up in the ceiling. A couple of Lakitus were riding their clouds above Mario and were holding Spinies in their hands, intending to throw them at him and joining the Hammer and Boomerang Bros in their barrage. “Let’s drown Mario with all of our stuff! Come on!” yelled one of the Lakitus, as all of them began to throw their Spinies at him.

Not only did Mario had to dodge the hammers and boomerangs, but he also had to dodge Spinies being thrown at him by the Lakitus. However, after a couple of seconds of dodging and trying to move forward, Mario finally had an idea.

Pulling out his trusty hammer from wherever he pulled it out from, he steadied himself in position, holding the hammer up and still with his two hands, while he attempted to dodge the projectile weapons with as little movement as possible. Once a Spiny was thrown in his direction and was close in vicinity, Mario swung his hammer at it, sending it flying straight at the enemy.

The first casualty was a Hammer Bro, who received a deflected Spiny at his chest. Another Spiny was thrown at Mario, and likewise, he deflected it back at the moment, and the second casualty was a Boomerang Bro who fell off the platform when the block that he was standing on broke apart from the impact of the Spiny.

Mario kept on deflecting the Spinies right back at the enemy, knocking out most of the armed Koopas in the process. The Lakitus continued to throw their Spinies at him, hoping that one of them could at least strike him down.

Unfortunately, a Spiny was deflected right into the face of one of the Lakitus, as he fell off from his cloud. Another spiny was also deflected at another Lakitu, as the latter shielded his face with his arms. Though, when nothing happened for some reason, he slowly lowered his arms down, before realizing that the Spiny hit his cloud, causing it to vanish in thin air. Realizing that he had nothing to stand on, the Lakitu cried out as he fell straight to the ground.

Mario continued his counterattack, until there were few enemies that stood in his way. Then, he put away his hammer, and resumed running deep into the enemy territory. However, suddenly, a Boomerang Bro dropped from one of the platforms and stood in front of Mario, readying his boomerang in his hand. “I won’t let you pass!” the armed Koopa shouted out, before throwing his boomerang at the running man.

Mario moved himself down and slid on the floor, dodging the boomerang which passed over his head. Moving himself back up, he continued to run forward, scaring the Boomerang Bro in front of him in the process. He jumped over his enemy when he got close, and kept moving on through the castle, leaving behind a group of defeated Koopas. “Better luck next time!” he shouted at his defeated opponents. The Boomerang Bro gazed at Mario as he ran further away from the area, until his own boomerang unfortunately knocked him out from the back of his head.

Mario continued to move forward, feeling that he had reached the halfway point into the castle. When his eyes perceived a large wall standing in front of him, but with a clear opening at the very top, Mario then jumped as high as possible to go over the large wall.

When he landed back down on the ground, however, just as he was recovering from the landing, he saw something coming straight at him. It was a large, black bullet with an intimidating facial expression, called a Bullet Bill. By instinct, he ducked down before the large Bullet could hit him, and the Bullet Bill ended up hitting the wall behind him, blasting a portion of it into bits and pieces.

Mario turned his head back to look at the result of the blast from the bullet. When he turned his head back towards the front, he realized that there were cannons lining up in front of him, being controlled by some Koopas and some Goombas. “See if you can dodge this, Mario!” shouted one of the Koopas, as all of the cannons were now aiming at the red plumber.

“Hehe! Looks like you guys up your game a bit!” said Mario, his confident expression never leaving his face. “But it’s not something that I can’t handle myself! Here we go!”

“Fire!” At the same time, all of the cannons shot out Bullet Bills at Mario, moving towards him all together. Mario positioned himself ready, having experienced dodging Bullet Bills countless of times before. As the Bullet Bills got closer and closer, Mario then performed a very high jump, going over all of the Bullet Bills at once. As he landed behind the bullets’ trajectory, he could only let out a chuckle. “Heh! Is that all you got? No use using the same trick on me this time around!”

Mario continued to chuckle as he looked back to watch the bullets continuing to move straight, hoping for all of them to collide together for a big explosion. Instead, however, the Bullet Bills all move up from their supposedly linear trajectory, making a U-turn before going straight back at Mario. “Oh. Homing Bullet Bills. That’s a first.” he noted, before he sprinted away from the incoming group of Bullet Bills chasing after him.

Mario attempted to avoid the heat-seeking projectiles by moving in a variety of ways. Zigzaging, going over them, making a circle… But none of his tactics worked against them. All the while, his enemies at the cannons were laughing at him, watching him trying and failing to avoid the Bullet Bills.

“Hah hah hah!” laughed one of the Goombas stationed at a cannon. “What’s wrong, Mario?! Can’t shake them off your tail?! I bet you’re regretting trying to save the princess now! She’s ours now!”

Hearing the Goomba’s statement, Mario stopped in his tracks and threw a glare at him, before his smile of confidence returned to him. “Oh yeah? We’ll see about that!” he said, as he started to run towards the enemy stationed at the cannons.

As they noticed that he was charging at them, in a state of panic, one of the Koopas quickly fired a Bullet Bill at him. This time, Mario jumped off the ground and ended up landing on the projectile, using it as a spring to jump up once more. The soldiers all followed his movements, up until Mario landed behind the line of cannons, and essentially them as well.

Mario turned to look at his enemies and gave them a mischievous smile. “I would start running, if I were you.” he said before he resumed his progress into the castle.

The soldiers were a bit confused on why he told them that, until, at the same time, they all turned back around and saw that the heat-seeking Bullet Bills were going straight at them. “Oh boy… Take cover!” alerted one of the Koopas. The Koopa that was right next to him suddenly grabbed him and used him as a shield against the incoming projectiles. “Not me, you idiot!!!” the Koopa yelled, before the Bullet Bills hit and blasted them all into next week.

As he continued to move forward, Mario climbed up a set of stairs in front of him, and when he reached the top, he stopped and turned around to gloat at his enemies that were defeated by his skills. “Hah hah! Mario is still standing! You guys should have reconsider your positions before you can take me on! I’m the best!”

The red plumber continued to gloat at his fallen enemies, until pieces of rocks fell onto his shoulder. As he noticed how weird it was for a rock to fall from the ceiling, he moved his gaze up to the ceiling.

He found that the “ceiling” was shaking strangely, and before he knew, it started to fall straight at him. “Whoa!” he yelled out, as he quickly moved forward to avoid the ceiling crashing into him. When the “ceiling” met the floor, Mario looked back and realized what it was. A large, spike-encrusted stone that had a very angry expression on it. It was known as Thwomp.

Another pieces of rocks fell on the mustachio man, as he moved his gaze back up and noticed another part of the “ceiling” shaking strangely. “Get crushed, Mario!” yelled another Thwomp, as it started to fall down at Mario.

Mario once again dodged the Thwomp’s attack by moving forward. As yet another pieces of rocks fell on Mario, he did not think twice before moving forward to avoid being crushed by yet another Thwomp. Realizing that he was standing under a row of Thwomps, Mario started running as fast as possible, as each of them started falling towards the red plumber one after the other.

Mario thought that he could avoid all of the Thwomps by running continuously, hoping to get out of the row of Thwomps. During his running, he could see the end of the road for the Thwomps. However, his eyes found another thing located at the end of it.

A large rectangular stone with arms and feet stood at the end of the path, adopting a similar expression to the Thwomps, but with red eyes and crooked teeth. It was known as a Whomp.

“Yah har har!” The Whomp laughed. “End of the line, Mario! It’s your turn to be squashed!” Once Mario was at its target zone, it jumped up from the ground with its small feet, intending to let itself fall forward to crush Mario, while he had no where else to go.

However, its jump allowed Mario to find a way to pass through the large living stone. He propelled himself forward and slid on the floor just in time to slip below its feet.

“Ah darn it!” The Whomp cursed, as it ended up falling face first into the empty floor. Before it could have time to stand up, the Thwomp that was just right above it already started to fall, as the large rectangular stone got crushed underneath the living cinderblock. “… Ouch…!” it groaned.

Mario had resumed his moving deeper and deeper into the castle, looking back as he smirked at the failed attempts of the Thwomps and Whomp. When he turned his head back in front, Mario quickly stopped himself dead in his tracks, his feet barely falling off the edge of the path, and beyond it was a sea of lava that overtook the path that Mario needed to take to reach his destination.

Looking at his surroundings, he tried to find a way to get across the lava floor, but there was nothing useful that he could use to keep moving forward. There weren’t even any platforms to hop onto. “Great… What now?”

“Go home, that’s what!” Mario heard a mocking voice calling out to him. Looking up, he saw a Patagoomba flying over the sea of lava, followed by a couple of more Paragoombas and a couple of Paratroopas. “You think we’re dumb enough to put a platform over the lava for you to get across? Don’t be ridiculous! Your only options are either to go home or get turned into a Mario barbecue! There’s no way that you can get to the princess now!”

“No way I’m going back without her!” Mario retorted. “I’ll find a way! You just wait and see!”

“Oh hoh! It’d like to see that!” The Paragoomba sneered. “What’re you going to do? You can’t jump far enough to get to the other side! You don’t have any power-ups to fly over it! And you don’t have any platforms to jump off from!”

“Hmm…” Mario started rubbing his chin, as he assumed a thinking pose. When the Paragoomba mentioned a ‘platform to jump off from,’ an idea got hatched from Mario’s head, as he let out a sly smile on his face. “Actually, I do have platforms to jump off from.”

“Wait, what?” asked the confused Paragoomba, along with his comrades floating behind him. “What platforms? There aren’t any that you can…” Once he started questioning Mario’s idea, he slowly came to a realization as to what the ‘platforms’ are. “Oh… Oh my…”

“Here we go!” Mario shouted out, as he jumped off from the ground before landing on the Paragoomba’s head, before using him to jump off once more. The wings fell off, as the Paragoomba started falling from mid-air.

“AAAHH!” the Paragoomba yelled out as he fell down, before he got plunged into the lava below. He submerged out from the surface, as he struggled to get out of there, clearly in pain. “Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch! Oh man, I wanna go to a hot spring, but not like this!”

Mario used the same tactics on the other flying enemies, sending them plummeting down to the lava floor. After a couple more times of jumping and pushing his enemies down, Mario noticed a set of floating steel platforms at a distance away from him. Another couple of jumps afterwards, and he finally landed on one of the floating platforms.

“Phew…” Mario let out a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with his arm.

But before he could start moving once more, a puff of smoke suddenly appeared in front of him, as he took a defensive stance. Emerging from the smoke was the leader of the magical Koopas, Kamek, hovering over the platform, with his sceptre in hand. “This is as far as you go, Mario!”

“You already said that the last umpteenth time I came here, Kamek.” Mario said, his smile of confidence never fading from his face. “If you’re here to stop me, then that means I must be close.”

“Which is why you must be stopped here and now!” Kamek exclaimed. “I am the most powerful Magikoopa of all of Mushroom Kingdom! With my magic, I will turn you into a pitiful bee that will be singed by the flames of the almighty lord!”

“I’m pretty sure I can still beat you even when I’m a bee.” Mario smirked, remembering the last time that he got turned into a bee for a purpose.

“Enough! You shall go no further, obese plumber!” Kamek shouted, before he disappeared into a puff of smoke. Mario started to analyze the area, trying to see where would Kamek reappear before the leader of the Magikoopa could launch an attack on him. Over the platforms in front of him, three puffs of smoke appeared above each one of them. Of course, Kamek emerged from the smoke over the platform on the far back, but there were also two other Magikoopas each appearing over the left and right platforms respectively, each wearing different coloured robes and hats.

“Come, my fellow Magikoopas!” declared Kamek, as he readied his sceptre by twirling it around, attempting to cast a magic. The other two Magikoopas followed suit. “Let us turn this poor excuse of a man into an ant that he truly is!” Kamek and the other two Magikoopas then swung their sceptres forward, as a beam of magic was shot out of them, heading straight at Mario.

Before the magic beams could reach Mario, he once again jumped off the platform, avoiding the beams. Mario attempted to stomp on Kamek with his feet, but before he could do so, Kamek once again disappeared in a puff of smoke, along with his two companions.

Once again, Mario tried to find out where Kamek would reappear. At some distance, Kamek reappeared in a puff of smoke, once again firing a magic beam from his sceptre at Mario. Just like last time, Mario jumped out of the way, and landed on another platform as a result.

Before he knew it, a Magikoopa reappeared right behind him and took hold of his arms. “Got you!” the Magikoopa exclaimed.

As Mario attempted to struggle out of the Magikoopa’s grip, the second Magikoopa reappeared in from of him, preparing his magic from his sceptre. “I shall cast my magic on you to turn you into a feeble frog!” he exclaimed, before he shot out a magic beam straight at Mario where he was in a bind.

“Grr…! I don’t think so!” Mario shouted out, before he suddenly spun himself around, dragging the Magikoopa holding him still along with him. Mario spun himself faster and faster, fast enough to force the Magikoopa to let go of him. When the Magikoopa finally lost his grip, he was sent flying straight into the magic beam, effectively turning himself into a frog.

The transformed frog landed safely down on the platform, as his sceptre fell right next to him. The frog croaked a couple of times, before he jumped away from the battlefield, presumably fleeing for his life.

“AH! How dare you!” exclaimed the remaining Magikoopa, before he disappeared into a puff of smoke yet again.

Noticing the dropped sceptre on the floor, Mario picked it up with his hand, examining it just a little bit and contemplating whether or not that he too can use it for himself. “Hmm… this could work.”

As soon as he said it, from the corner of his eye, another puff of smoke appeared, this time, in the close proximity of him. The Magikoopa emerged from the smoke, as he started to prepare to cast another spell on Mario.

Mario, wanting to test and see if he could do it to, shouted out, “Turn into a paper airplane!” before swinging the sceptre and shooting out a magic beam at the Magikoopa.

“Eep!” The Magikoopa noticed the attack too late, and he ended up getting hit by it and was turned into a simple paper airplane, just as Mario wanted him to be. His own sceptre ended up falling into the lava, ensuring that no one else could ever use it. The transformed airplane could only float away from the battle, trying to save his own life.

“Heh heh! That actually worked!” Mario chuckled at his own accomplishments. He soon stopped praising himself and set his gaze at Kamek, who visibly looked irritated by the whole situation.

“Bah! You may have defeated my fellow Magikoopas! But you will not be so lucky against me, the grand master of all magic!” Kamek exclaimed, as he twirled his sceptre around to cast yet another magic at Mario.

Likewise, the red plumber did the same thing, twirling his rod around to cast a magic to counter that of Kamek. After a short while, both Mario and Kamek swung their respective sceptres, each shooting out magic beams at one another. The beams collided, and what resulted was a huge puff of smoke that enveloped the field around them.

Kamek coughed through the smoke, covering his beak with his free hand while waving the smoke away with his other hand holding the sceptre. “Cough! Cough! Argh…! Do what you like with that sceptre, foolish plumber! But you haven’t seen what I am capable of! The next attack will be the most powerful one! Not even you have enough experience to counter such magic! Prepare to be destroyed!”

As Kamek yelled out his threats, the smoke started to clear. When Kamek turned his view back at Mario, to his confusion, Mario had disappeared from where he once stood. “Wha…?! Where…?! Where is he?!” He exclaimed, agitatedly looking around to locate his opponent.

In his desperation, he felt a small tap on his shoulder. Agitated, he quickly turned around to see Mario standing right at his face, adopting a wide smile, while holding his sceptre up over the elder Magikoopa’s head. “Oh dear…” Kamek said, realizing what was going to happen before he could react.

“Turn into a bat.” said Mario before tapping the sceptre on Kamek’s head, turning him into a small bat with spectacles on his face, carrying his own sceptre with his feet. The bat looked down at himself, before letting out a scared screech and flying away from Mario.

The amused plumber watched as the bat flew away through the castle, waving him goodbye and chuckling once more at his accomplishments for a bit, before throwing the sceptre down into the lava. “Pretty cool trick. But people shouldn’t play around with these toys.” Mario said to himself, before he resumed his march, as he found himself going closer and closer to where he was supposed to go.

He succeeded in passing through the lava area, as his feet finally reached the solid, brick floor as he continued to move forward. While he was running forward, he spotted a large set of stairs that came with a red carpet over it. That was another hint that he was getting closer to his destination.

He climbed up the stairs as fast as he could, hoping that he could settle things as fast as possible. As he reached the top of the stairs, Mario found himself in a very wide area. An arena consisting of a large, circular platform hanging above a pool of lava by chains on four corners. The middle of the hanging platform bore the face of the demonic beast that resided in the castle.

Mario’s eyes searched the place thoroughly, hoping to find anything significant that could clue him in. And he did, as he finally found the one person that he was searching for for the entirety of his journey, located just on the other side the area from where he was standing.

A cage was seeing swing slightly in the air, supported by chains. Inside of the chain was a very important female of royalty. Her thin, physical appearance consist of long, blond, thick hair with soft bangs and long, split ear-tails shaping her face, along with a pair of cyan eyes with multiple thin lashes. She wore a floor-length pink gown with puffy short sleeves, two panniers along her waist, a ruffle down the bottom, and a sapphire brooch attached to the chest area. She also wore a pair of white evening gloves that extend along the elbows, a pair of round sapphire earrings, and a gold crown with two rubies and two sapphires.

There was no mistaking it. It was Princess Peach Toadstool herself, being held captive inside of the cage by the ruler of the castle.

During her entire time as a prisoner, Peach had her eyes closed the whole time, with her hands clasping together, as if she was praying for someone to free her from her imprisonment by the cruel king of the castle. Once Mario stepped onto the hanging platform, she felt his presence and slowly opened her eyes. Her round lips spread into a relieved smile, as her eyes encountered her familiar, red clad hero. “Mario!”

“Princess Peach…!” Mario smiled in return, having found the Princess of Mushroom Kingdom herself.

He took one step forward into the circular platform, a step closer to finally reaching the beloved princess. When suddenly, both Mario and Peach’s eyes noticed something coming from above. As both of them lift their heads up to see what it was, a large, orange blur fell from up above, crashing itself onto the platform, shaking it against its binds and creating a cloud of dust around the large being.

Mario shielded his eyes the moment the large being landed on the platform, protecting them from the dust that came flying at him. As Mario lowered his arms down, as the dust cleared, he got a clear view of who he was dealing with.

The being resembled a very large Koopa, but his appearance was unique in many ways. The Koopa had an orange-yellow skin, with a green head that sported two, small horns, red hair, a flesh snout and a pair of red eyes, as well as bearing claws and spikes along his tail. He wore a large, green shell with spikes all over, as well as spiked collars around his neck and arms.

His appearance alone was enough for Mario to remember his long-time adversary for several years. The large Koopa was known as King Bowser Koopa.

As Bowser’s eyes met with Mario’s, the large beast let out a terrifying roar in the air that could be heard even outside of the castle itself, as well as letting out a breath of fire from his snout.

Mario was not intimidated by that one bit, however. “So, Bowser,” he spoke. “Up to your old tricks again, huh?”

“Mario!” Bowser roared, clenching his hands tight as his expression became fierce. “I have just about enough of you meddling with my stuff! You’re always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong!”

“Sorry, Bowser. But you know the drill as good as I do. I’m here to save Princess Peach from your evil clutches. I won’t let anything or anyone stop me from doing so!”

“Don’t get cocky! You’ve pummelled me too many times, now! But this time, I’m finishing it! I’m going to beat you once and for all, and Peach will finally belong to me! Today is the day that I’ll crush you for good!”

“Heh! Let’s see about that, Bowser!” Mario took a fighting stance, as he prepared himself for another battle against the Koopa King.

The King himself was also prepared, and therefore, he made the first move. Clenching his teeth shut, fire began to form behind his jaws, as, with a swing of his head, he blew out three large fireballs from his mouth, all heading towards the red plumber.

Mario started to run forward during Bowser’s attack, and when the fireballs were blown right at him, he jumped before any of them could hit him. As he landed behind the fireballs, he resumed his sprinting forward at Bowser.

The large Koopa, seeing that his attacks failed to hit Mario, jumped from the floor, turning his body into a ball as he spun himself around vertically. Mario stopped his march when the beast jumped, and as he watched Bowser spinning around in the air, the beast stopped his spinning and spread himself open, aiming his large feet at the plumber as he dived.

Before his fall could reach Mario, the latter jumped back in time just as Bowser fiercely landed on the floor, shaking the circular platform once more. The beast quickly recovered and was already preparing his next attack, by pulling his head back and swinging back forward, as flames came spewing from his mouth.

Mario jumped once more from the attack, as he landed right behind the Koopa King himself. However, the King followed his movements and turned around just as Mario landed behind him, still spewing fire from his breath. This time around, Mario started running around Bowser, trying to avoid his flames as the beast kept turning himself to follow the mustachio man’s movements.

After a while, Bowser closed his mouth, as he stopped breathing fire and resorted to using his claws for a change. When Mario stopped running around the beast as he noticed that the attack was stopped, Bowser took a step forward at him and swung his claws at the plumber, who managed to dodge it by jumping back. Bowser made a couple more attempts at clawing at his enemy, all which were dodged by Mario jumping from all of them.

Bowser growled in anger, as he was unable to make a single scratch at the plumber. Moving his forearm in front of him, he then resorted to charge at the mustachio man, hoping to slam him right into the lava. However, Mario jumped as high as possible to dodge the Koopa King’s charge attack and, when he was located directly above the beast, drew out his hammer and attempts to slam it right on Bowser’s head as he was falling back down.

This time, however, Bowser noticed the plumber’s attempt and blocked the hammer strike with both of his arms above his head, and, using one arm, swatted Mario away to the side. The plumber quickly recovered and was sliding along the platform with both feet on it before stopping himself from sliding anymore.

The plumber regained his posture, as he smiled confidently at his beastly opponent. “Heh heh! What’s the matter, Bowser? Seems like we’ve done this several times already!”

“Rraaah!” Bowser roared. “I was just getting started! those attacks are nothing compared to what I’m gonna do to you next, Mario!”

“Really? ‘Cause I’m just getting started too! Try as you might, because without some new tricks up in your sleeves, there’s no way that you can beat me like that! I’m gonna beat you just like last time!”

As Mario continued to spout words of confidence at the Koopa King, the latter, instead of being irritated by that, simply grinned. “Hah! That’s where you’re wrong, Mario! Junior!”

Mario raised his eyebrow when Bowser shouted the word ‘Junior’ seemingly at his direction. Before he realized, a new voice was heard behind him. “You got it, Papa!” Mario quickly turned himself around, as his eyes encountered a new enemy.

The smaller being was best described as a younger version of Bowser. His skin was yellow in colour, he had a light green head bearing the same red hair as Bowser, but tied into a top-ponytail, as well as two, very small horns and a pair of black, beady eyes. He wore a green shell with spikes on it, a pair of collars around his wrists, and a bandana with a hand-drawn mouth with fangs around his neck. The smaller version of the Koopa King was his son, Bowser Junior.

Junior was seen piloting inside of a helicopter-like vehicle with a large clown face on the front, as well as a green propeller on the bottom. Before Mario had a chance to react, the clown face narrowed its eyes sinisterly, as it opened its mouth and a cannon was popped out from it. Using the cannon, Junior shot out a cannonball from it, and it hit Mario square in the stomach, sending him flying in the air.

“Argh…!” Mario groaned, as he found himself being launched in the air and unfortunately heading in Bowser’s way.

The Koopa King caught the plumber by his red shirt and pulled him right in front of his face, laughing as he finally caught his enemy in his grasp. “Hah hah hah! Did you expect me to play fair this time? Don’t think I didn’t learn my lesson from last time, Mario!” Bowser laughed, as the plumber tried to struggle himself out of the beast’s grasp. “Now, to burn you into a crisp, and I will finally win over you! You’re done for!”

Bowser opened his snout, as the inside of it started to glow in bright, fiery orange. Mario continued to struggle against Bowser’s hold, gripping against his shirt to try to slip himself off from the beast’s large hand. “Ngh…! Come on, come on…!” Finding no hope in freeing himself that way, he tried searching around his person to see what objects that he could use to get himself free.

He pulled out a mushroom, then a leaf, then a can of meatballs, but none of them would help him get out of Bowser’s hold. As the fires within Bowser’s throat got closer and closer, Mario desperately searched around himself for a chance of freedom.

Then, from one of his pockets, he pulled out a mushroom that looked very dry. It used to be a regular mushroom, but months of being out in the open had shrivelled it into its inedible form, with a repulsive odour coming out of it.

Holding the dried mushroom in hand, Mario found his ticket out of there. “That’s it!” Mario then proceeded to throw the mushroom directly into Bowser’s mouth.

Bowser’s eyes bulged out, as the dried mushroom went into his throat. Letting go of Mario, the Koopa King had his hands on his throat, choking on the repugnant object in his mouth, and it was sickening to him. “Aack…! Urgh…! So nasty…! What in the mother of Koopa did you feed me…?! Disgusting…! Kaack!” he coughed.

Mario landed safely on the ground when Bowser was forced to let go of him, as he dusted himself off after being gripped by the beast. He heard Junior’s voice calling out to him, as he turned his head towards the direction of the child. “You won’t get away from me, bad man!” Junior yelled out, as, just like last time, he fired a cannonball from the mouth of his clown vehicle.

This time, Mario had time to dodge out of the way, as he jumped as high as possible to escape the cannonball’s trajectory. Unfortunately for Junior, the cannonball ended up heading straight at Bowser, while he was still recovering from swallowing the dried mushroom. “Oh no! Papa!”

Just as Bowser was finally able to get the taste out of his mouth, the voice of his son calling out for him made him look up in front of him, realizing too late that the cannonball was flying straight at him. The cannonball collided, as Bowser had his head pulled back, taking a couple of steps backwards from the impact. When his head was pulled back down, Bowser found that his mouth caught the ball, and the latter was presumably stuck within his jaws.

“Mmm! Mmmm!!” Bowser let out a muffled growl, as he tried to pull the cannonball from out of his mouth using his hands with as much force as possible.

Junior, on his side, was sweating furiously, as his attempt to strike Mario once more ended up putting his father in a very awkward position. “Oh geez…! Sorry, Papa!” he apologized, as he attempt to move by his father’s side to help him out of his predicament. Before he could do so, however, he spotted something from above, and when he looked up, he gasped and pointed his father at the imminent danger. “Papa!”

While Bowser was trying to get the ball out of his mouth, he noticed too late that Mario was falling down straight at him, his hammer raised up above his head, before swinging down right at the beast’s head, causing the King’s eyes to bulge out and his jaws crushing the whole cannonball in his mouth, shattering a few fangs in the process.

After the attack, his jaws slowly opened, as bits and pieces of the cannonball fell from his mouth, as his upper body moved in a circular motion, having become dizzy in the process. “Ohhh…! Oh, look…! I can see seagulls flying around, carrying bags of babies… all wearing red caps…” Bowser moaned, before he fell flat on his stomach.

Bowser was about to start recovering from his head injury and his dizziness, when suddenly, he felt a pair of hands holding his tail and his body started to slide against the ground. Through his dizziness, he realized that Mario was spinning him across the floor by pulling his tail around.

Mario’s spinning of Bowser continued, as he gained more speed and strength, just enough that he could lift the large beast from the ground while still spinning him around.

“Whoa! Whoa! S-stop this! Whatever you’re trying to do, I demand that you-!”

“Let you go? Okey dokey!” Mario finished for him, as he let go of Bowser’s tail, sending the big beast launching away from him.

Bowser cried out, as he was being sent flying in the air, far enough to bypass the edge of the circular platform. His body then descended towards the lava floor, where he plunged straight into it. After about a second or so, Bowser quickly emerged from the lava, flailing his arms like crazy, as he yelled out in pain. “AAAARGH! DANG IT ALL! NOT AGAIN!!!”

“PAPA! I’ll save you!” Junior cried out, as he flew his clown vehicle over to where his father fell, leaving Mario behind in his moment of victory.

“Hehe! Have a nice bath, Bowser!” said Mario, sending the fallen Koopa King a salute, before he walked over to where the imprisoned princess was located.

Reaching the level which controlled the chains supporting Peach’s cage, he pulled it down and the cage slowly descended down on the ground. Once that was done, Mario walked over to the front of the cage and opened it, freeing the captive princess in the process.

Princess Peach, now freed from the binds that hold her, stepped out of the cage. Her hands were still clasping together the whole time, still holding onto hope that the red plumber will save her from the clutches of the Koopa King, and that hope finally came.

Staring at Mario’s blue eyes with her own cyan ones, she gave the red clad man a very warm smile of gratitude, a smile that could easily pierce the hearts of men, including Mario’s. “Mario… Thank you so much!”

“Heh… You’re welcome, Princess.” Mario replied, as a slight blush was visible on his face upon receiving the Princess’ gratitude. “Did Bowser hurt you at all?”

Peach replied by shaking her head, still keeping her warm smile. “Bowser was at least kind enough to leave me unharmed. But even so, the entire time that I was trapped here, I felt nothing but pain at the thought of my people, the people that I care about, worrying endlessly about me… Each time, I could only imagine how much they were suffering…”

“Well, you don’t have to suffer anymore. You’re finally free. And I’m gonna get you back there as soon as possible.”

“Yes…” Peach gently lowered her head, as her hands went to grasp on each of Mario’s hands, which surprised the red plumber. She pulled them up in front of them, as her gentle smile never faded. “I always knew that you would save me… Even after time has passed, I never lost hope… because you are always here for me, despite the dangers that you encounter. I cannot express my gratitude enough for all you’ve done for me…”

Mario’s blush slightly deepened, as Peach’s gratitude further pierced into his heart like an arrow. He could only chuckled shyly at her praise.

However, both he and Peach heard a series of barking from distance. They both looked back at the direction of the barking, and both identified it as the barking of a Chain Chomp. They both knew that Bowser’s minions were trying to get to them, and with Bowser trying to pull himself out of the lava, there was no time to stand idly by.

“I don’t think we have a lot of time to chitchat here, Princess.” Mario said. “Let’s get ourselves to safety, shall we?”

Peach nodded. “Yes. Of course.”

With that, Mario took grasp of Peach’s wrist, and the two started to run towards a safe place to escape from their approaching enemies.

* * *

Mario and Peach both climbed up the stairs leading to the roof of the castle, and continued to run forward until they reached the edge of the castle. Looking down, they watched as countless of Bowser’s soldiers entered through the castle gate en masse, leaving no room for the two to jump down and get away from all of them safely.

“They’re trying very hard to stop us from escaping…” Peach said, as she found no other way for the two to escape from their pursuers. “Mario, what should we do?”

“If I’m right, our escape route should be arriving at any moment.” Mario spoke, leaving the Princess confused as what he meant by that.

However, when she lifted her head up, she noticed something large coming from a distance. She gasped, just as Mario followed her movement and smiled when he too noticed it. “And there he is!”

What they saw was a hot air balloon flying at a moderate speed to where the two of them were located, and within the balloon, they saw an individual riding it, as he waved his arm at the both of them.

That individual looked like a slimmer version of Mario, for his physical features and clothing were very similar to that of Mario. The man had a pair of blue eyes, a round nose, brown hair, and a black mustache whose style is slightly different from Mario’s. He wore a pair of brown shoes, blue overalls, a pair of white gloves, a green shirt, and a green cap with the letter L imprinted on it.

To the majority of the people of Mushroom Kingdom, his name was always forgotten without any effort whatsoever. But to his loved ones, such as Mario, he was known as Luigi, the brother of the hero of Mushroom Kingdom.

“Hey! Big Bro!” Luigi exclaimed, waving his arm at both Mario and Peach, as the hot air balloon got closer to them.

“Luigi! Right on time!” Mario said, returning Luigi’s arm wave with his own. “Glad that you can make it! I hope that the journey wasn’t too dangerous for you?”

“Heh! Not in the slightest!” Luigi replied. “Bowser’s goonies were too busy freaking out over you getting to his castle, that they don’t even bother noticing me!” As the green plumber spoke of how he got to the castle unscathed, a slight realization had him to think back about what he said and what actually happened back there. “Or wait… Did they fail to notice me? Or did they just don’t care enough to try…?”

“Well, either way, let’s get out of here! It won’t be long until Bowser and his minions get here!”

“Right!” With that said, once the hot air balloon got near the castle, Luigi lowered the balloon down until the basket was just low enough for both Mario and Peach to jump into it.

Once he had done so, Mario allowed Peach to get into the basket first, complete with motioning his arm over to the direction of the basket. Peach complied, and she jumped into the basket safely with Luigi’s help, followed by Mario jumping in as well. “Alright! Let’s-a-go, you guys!” Luigi exclaimed, as he activated the flames under the balloon at full throttle, just as the balloon itself moved up and away from the castle.

Just as they were starting to leave, Bowser, whose body was covered in bandages, was able to climb up to the rooftop and, once he noticed the hot air balloon containing Mario and Peach, he reached his arm out towards them, while weakly exclaiming, “Wait…!” before he collapsed with his stomach flat on the ground. “Dang it…! I said wait…!”

The trio all noticed Bowser as he attempted to stop them in his battered condition. In a moment of triumph, Mario did not hesitate to wave victoriously at the beaten Koopa King, and was joined by Luigi and Peach who did the same thing. “So long, King Bowser!”

Hearing Mario’s goodbyes irritated the beast to no end, as he struggled to get himself off the ground and had just enough strength to shake his fist at the fleeting plumber. “Mario! You won this time! But the next time will be different! Next time, I’ll definitely beat you once and for all, and Peach will finally be mine! As will all of Mushroom Kingdom! Yes…! The day that I beat you will be the day where I will finally have everything I want! Including you, Princess Peach Toadstool!”

As the balloon continued to fly away from the castle, Luigi shook in fear at the Koopa King’s boast, as it was clear that Bowser would never give up, and he would continue to spread fear over the kingdom with his constant kidnapping of the Princess. “Whoa… This guy is really scary… I don’t think there’s anything that we can do to stop him from going after the Princess again…” Luigi said, as he shifted his gaze at Peach. “Don’t you think that’s scary, Princess Peach? To have Bowser kidnapping you every time without ever stopping?”

Peach turned to Luigi and, with her smile still kept in place, shook her head in reply. “No, Luigi. Even if Bowser will kidnap me countless more times in the future, never once will I ever feel fear by that…”

As both Mario and Luigi looked at Peach with an expression that was asking for questions, the black clouds started to clear up, and a small portion of the blue sky started to reveal itself, along with the bright ray of the Sun that illuminated the trio, as if it was showing the Princess’ sincerity.

“After all…” Peach spoke, as her gaze shifted towards Mario, and her smile widened and her expression softened. “… As long as Mario is here with me, I will never be afraid. Because I always know that my hero will save me from danger. Just as he did for the past several years…”

Mario could not contain his blush any longer, and he was left laughing shyly at Peach’s sincerity while scratching the back of his head. Luigi watched, as he could not help but smile at his big brother’s reaction. He could only hope that a spark would finally unite Mario and Peach together someday, somehow.

“Now, let us go, Mario, Luigi.” Peach spoke. “When we get back home, let’s celebrate your victory by baking both of you a large cake!”

“YAHOO!” Both Mario and Luigi cheered at the thought of Peach baking a cake for them, as the younger brother adjusted the flames of the balloon so that they could return home as fast as possible.

The clouds have completely cleared up, and what was left was the deep blue sky and the Sun illuminating the land of Mushroom Kingdom, giving it life. It was a sign that peace was returned once more to the Kingdom ruled by the Princess herself, as the people would finally be at peace, knowing that their precious ruler was returned to them. Mario’s journey to rescue her had come to a close once again.

* * *

… However, their adventure was not left unseen by the eyes of a trespasser.

The scene of the two plumbers and the Princess’ escape from the castle of the beast was shown in a very large blue flame, sitting in a cauldron, surrounded by several standing chandeliers illuminated by flames of the same colour, inside of an ominous dark room that seemingly showed nothing else but the flames.

Standing in front of the large blue flame was a mysterious individual, hidden in black cloak with gold chains holding the collar close together, and the hood obscuring most of the individual’s face.

The mysterious individual had been watching the journey of the mustachio man from the moment that he entered the castle, all the way to his escape with the Princess. He had seen all that happened during the timeframe, when the mustachio man charged in against the army of the beast, gone through the traps and obstacles that got in his way effortlessly, and his complete victory over the large beast in battle to save the captive Princess.

However, it wasn’t the mustachio man himself that he was setting an important sight on. Rather, it was someone else of more importance.

As he continued to watch the trio drifting away from the castle and on their way home, the cloaked figure pulled out a mysterious crystal in his hand and moved it close to the flames.

A moment had passed, and the crystal suddenly illuminated in a bright, white colour that gave the mysterious figure an important information regarding what he was trying to seek.

“… I see.” he spoke. “So this is where the Soul Crystal lies… Now, my next objective is finally clear to me…”

One by one, the chandeliers started going out, as the mysterious man’s intention to depart towards his goal became known. Once the chandeliers were all blown out, the large, blue flame in the cauldron started to waver, as it was about to go out in its turn. Before the room was completely shrouded in darkness, the mysterious figure spoke one last time…

“… Very soon… The tale of souls and swords… will again be retold…"

_ End of Chapter  
_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everybody! The name's Anomynous_Nin! I am a veteran writer of FanFIction.net who just discovered this website full of stories written by a dedicated community like you! For my first story here, I've decided to import one of my ambitious stories here for all of you guys searching for a story full of exciting adventures and interactions between your favourite characters! And since this is my first time posting here, I'm not entirely sure if the format of this chapter is appropriate. I greatly appreciate if you guys can help me out if that's the case!
> 
> What you've just read is my latest Adventure/Fantasy story, Nintendo Legacy (I'll probably change it to a more fitting name in the future, possibly)! And this prologue chapter gives you what you will expect from this big story! Well... Not really. There are still a bit of stuff left to cover to offer you guys what to expect, but more on that later.
> 
> Now I just wanna say something about how this story came to be, and how I'll be approaching it in the coming months, maybe years, who knows. If you guys don't care much about the behind the scene stuff, then you're free to go. Otherwise, here we go.
> 
> I've been developing this story and its world ever since I was a teen. So it's sort of a childhood story for me, and it holds a special place in my heart. The concept of crossovers was the primary drive for me to create it. Now, I know that crossovers are a pain because of the huge differences between series in terms of characters, settings and whatnot, but I really love the idea of my favourite characters crossing over and interacting with one another in a world that is fusion of their own worlds, or in an original world with their own settings.
> 
> At the start, it was a crossover story between various characters in various video game and anime series. For example, imagine having Mario interact with Link, Goku, Naruto and Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia. Yeah, I know. Sounds pretty stupid. But as I develop the story more and more, big changes started to occur as well. So the current crossover will mostly focus on series from Nintendo. Mostly, because, as you can see from this prologue, it contains at least one non-Nintendo series. It's also part of the reason why it's in the Super Smash Bros. section, but it might change in the future. It also helps that I am a Nintendo fan, so being a fan also helps with developing the story.
> 
> During the development, I planned to include elements from Soul Calibur, as you can see here, and Kingdom Hearts, which you will probably see in the next few chapters. Later on, I decided to remove the Kingdom Hearts elements and just create something inspired by it. As for Soul Calibur... Well... The elements are so ingrained into the story that it would feel weird to replace them with something inspired by the series. So if you guys think that the series' inclusion is weird, I apologize. But it's gonna stay for the rest of the story.
> 
> As time went on, and as Nintendo continues to develop new games, some from existing series and some that are new at the time, more interesting ideas came to mind for the story, to make it more interesting and engaging. Well, at least, to me. In my head, there are so many ideas involving the characters and the world that they are interacting that, truth be told, I want to share my ideas to other people. Back then, I was shy and a nerd when it comes to that, but now, I feel like I am willing to share what I have with you guys. For better or worse.
> 
> Anyway, that's all I have left to say about the behind the scene stuff for now. I'll probably talk more about it in the next few chapters, depending on whether or not you guys decide to stay for the ride. The frequency of the chapters will differ, so stay on a lookout for any new updates for this story. There are going to be some errors in grammar, syntax, whatever in what I've written, so feel free to point it out to me.
> 
> That's it from me. I hope you guys enjoy reading this story and looking forward for more. You're free to send me positive or negative comments. The purpose of me publishing this story now is to finally share my ideas to you all. And I'm not planning on stopping it. But who knows.
> 
> Either way, thank you for reading the start of my story! Until next time, guys! See ya!


	2. Kidnapped Soul

The first thing that happens when the morning comes to signal the start of a brand new day is the bright, yellow Sun rising from the horizon, as it slowly emits its rays down across the land to deliver warmth, light and life. The rooster is usually the first one to wake up upon having the sunlight shined upon it, before it lets out its powerful cry to awaken other living beings, near and far. It is usually accompanied by a flock of birds flying through the morning sky, letting out cheerful chirps along the way. As soon as the sunlight touches the entire land, only then will the day truly begins.

Just a warp pipe distance away from the main town, there existed a simple, small, two-story house with a board sign placed on the front of the house just above the front door, with the name 'Mario' written on it. Indeed, that was where the Mario Bros. lived, and for being famous heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom, one might exert surprise to see how basic their home was. But as far as the Mario Bros. are concerned, they were content with their current home.

And as with the start of every morning, there was usually a mail that arrived at their footsteps. Delivering the mail was a Paratroopa with a cyan shell and a pilot headgear, likely to differentiate himself from the other Paratroopas. He was also carrying a mail bag over his shoulder. As soon as the Paratroopa flew to the mailbox, he inserted a few letters and sheets into the box addressing the Mario Bros., raised the flag up before shouting out, "MAIL!" With another house done, he started flying away towards his next destination.

It took only a few seconds before the front door opened and an individual stepped out of the house and letting the rays of the Sun hit his face. Luigi emerged out of his home, just barely awoken and still wearing his green, striped pyjamas that came with a sleeping cap of the same colour and pattern. He let out a huge yawn and used his forehands to rub off the sand in the corner of his eyes, just before he slowly started to walk forward to get the mail.

As soon as he took out the mail from the box, he then turned to walk back inside of the house, with the same speed and pacing as before. "Mm… Wow, we got lots of mails today, huh…?" he murmured, as he closed the front door behind him before pacing himself through the living room.

Their house was two stories high, though only their bedroom occupied the second floor. The first floor consisted of the living room and the kitchen near the entrance, the dressing room and closet in the floor, and the bathroom at the far back. The door leading to the bathroom was slightly opened, and the sound of the shower could easily be heard, as the bathroom was in use by Mario, who had awoken just a little bit before Luigi. The older brother could be heard humming a familiar tune which everyone would like to call the Mario Bros. song.

"Let's see here…" Luigi spoke as he took a look at what kind of mail that they have received. "Taxes… Taxes… Taxes… An ad for a new mushroom product… An ad promoting Delfino Plaza… Taxes… Oooh! A super sale ad with specials on tomato sauce and pastas! Nice… Let's see, what else…?"

As he was flipping through the mail, he stumbled across a sheet with a picture of a large, colourful mansion accompanied by words that read in huge letters 'Congratulations! You won a brand new mansion!'

"BWAH! Get away from me!" the younger brother panicked and threw the paper in a nearby trashcan, as he recalled the last time the brothers received such a mail. The green ghostbuster shivered from the memories of ghosts and Boos in a creepy mansion, as those memories still haunted him to this day…

There was only one letter left that he hadn't look over yet. That one was different from the rest because it was pink instead of the usual, bland white. And not only that, as soon as his eyes were set on the last letter, the name of the sender was the only thing that got his attention and allowed a huge grin to appear on his face. In his head, no doubt that Mario would be happy to see it.

Luigi moved himself near the bathroom door, as he called out to his older brother while waving the pink letter despite the hero still inside of the bathroom. "Hey, Mario! Come here and quick! I got you something special!"

"Hm? Can you give me a few minutes, Luigi? I'll come over when I'm done showering!" Mario spoke from the bathroom amidst the sound of the water showering down into the bathtub.

"Oh, sure! No problem!" Luigi replied, too eager to not let his brother know of the good news. "I mean, I'm not gonna rush ya or anything! It's not like it's anything important like a special letter from the one and only Princess Peach Toadstool!"

Just as he expected, Mario dashed out of the shower in a blur and snatched the letter from Luigi's waving hand. "A letter from Peach?! Really?!" Mario exclaimed, as he stood in the middle of the dressing room, still wet from the shower and with a towel wrapped around his lower regions, holding the pink letter in his hands.

Luigi could only grin at the sight of his older brother being excited at anything related to the pink princess. He knew him very well to know how to get a plausible reaction from him. "Well? What are you waiting for, Big Bro? Open it up and see what it is!"

"Okie dokie!" Mario nodded as he started to open up the letter. It was definitely from Peach herself, as her letters were the only ones to have an unique flowery design, and her handwriting was very recognizable to the Mario Bros. Luigi moved behind his brother and looked over his shoulder, as they both started to read what it was written.

_Dear Mario Bros.,_

_I would like to thank you once more for rescuing me from Bowser, just as you have done so several times in the past. Words cannot express my utmost gratitude for you, and all of the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom share the same sentiment._

_You have done so much service to the entire Kingdom for the past several years. No matter how many times that we have celebrated your victory with a cake, I feel that it was not nearly enough compensation for all that you have done for us. But now, an enormous opportunity has presented itself to us, and I, as well as all of the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom, can finally express our full gratitude to you._

_Today, I would like to invite you to my castle as special guests for a very special anniversary celebration. For that occasion, an exceptional cake has been baked for you that took the combine efforts of all the generous people of Toad Town who want to express their feelings for you, including me._

_So much time has passed by very quickly, and it is difficult to think that it has already been this many years since you have first arrived in Mushroom Kingdom and thwarted Bowser's reign unexpectedly… And this is the reason why we have worked hard to make this anniversary celebration the best that it can be. So please, come to the castle, and I assure you that your time there will be well spent._

_Yours truly,_

_Princess Toadstool, Peach_

"Wow! Another big party not long after the last one? The princess sure is nice and generous about it!" Luigi said, as he nodded to himself. "Dunno how special this one will be compared to the last one, but she sure made it sound like it's gonna be a huge blast! What do ya say, bro?"

When he looked over to his brother, he noticed that Mario was oddly focusing hard on the letter in his hands. It wasn't his eagerness from receiving a letter from Peach addressing to the brothers, mostly Mario in that case, but he looked like he was in a state of deep thought. "Uhh… Mario?"

"… Anniversary…? So many years already…?" Mario murmured, as if these exact words clicked something inside of the plumber's head, but he couldn't figure out what exactly it was. Peach specified that the celebration was an anniversary to something and it was going to be very special compared to the previous ones.

The plumber reread the same words over and over again, and each time, he was getting closer and closer to what was lingering in his mind based on the letter. And then, realization hit him. "Luigi!" Mario quickly turned to his little brother. "What's the date today?!"

"Huh? What's today?" Luigi repeated his brother's question confusingly, not knowing why he wanted to know the date. He ended up comply to Mario's request and look over a calendar pinned on a wall that was near them. "Let's see… It's September 15… Why do you ask?"

A huge smile was plastered on the big brother's face, as it confirmed his realization. "I knew it!" he exclaimed right before he dashed out of the room, leaving his confused brother behind.

"Huh? What? What is it?" asked Luigi, still unsure what got his brother excited. All he got for an answer was the sound of objects colliding with one another and being tossed around., while he was still standing there looking confused. What was so special about September 15?

Before he could find out what, Mario suddenly dashed right back in the room, fully clothed in his usual red and blue attire, before he grabbed Luigi by the arm and started dashing out of the house, dragging his little brother along with him. "Let's-a-go, Luigi!" Mario joyfully declared. "Let's not keep the princess waiting too long!"

"WAAHH! W-where are we going?! W-why are we going now?! I haven't eaten breakfast yet! I haven't changed out of my pyjamas! Wait, Mario! WAAAIIIT!" the little brother yelled out, as he was being dragged at a relatively rapid rate.

Mario ignored Luigi's cries, as his mind was entirely focused on the upcoming events on the current date. How could he have forgotten? Today was the anniversary of how everything started between him, his brother, Peach, Bowser and all of Mushroom Kingdom.

The 30th Anniversary of how the Mario Bros. rescued Princess Peach Toadstool and saved the Mushroom Kingdom.

* * *

 

Toad Town. The capital city of Mushroom Kingdom where the brothers and Princess Peach reside. It is a flourishing and cheery town mostly inhabited by small, child-like beings wearing vests, white pants, pairs of brown shoes and large mushroom caps called Toads, as well as other, friendly beings such as Koopas. At first glance, the layout and design of the town are rather simple, with buildings that are designed just like any other normal buildings, with the exception of a few of them resembling mushrooms, as well as green pipes located in a few places leading to other ares of the town.

Despite their unremarkable appearance, the city's charm comes from its people and their positive, cheery personalities that truly bring life to their home. The only thing that makes the town distinctive, of course, is Princess Peach's castle, located in the north, stationed on a spacious, green field and surrounded by a body of water from a nearby waterfall.

The Mario Brothers, all dressed and ready for the big party, have entered the main square of the town via a green pipe that connects their house to there. As soon as they exited the warp pipe, they are immediately greeted with salutations and praise from the local townspeople. It is to be expected, and it was a normal occurrence for the brothers, as they are being held as heroes for rescuing their beloved princess from the clutches of an evil tyrant such as Bowser.

Of course, all the praise went towards Mario, who they saw as the only hero to have done so. As for Luigi, all he ever got was a single glance from a few of the townspeople, and even when he tried to get their attention, they either looked disinterested or forgot who he is until they are reminded that he is Mario's brother, leading to the former reaction. While Mario returned their greetings and accepted their praise, the poor little brother was given the cold shoulder.

However, the brothers' main focus was to attend a party in their honour at the castle, and they could not express their excitement for it, Mario especially. After they traveled to the north of the town and exchanged greetings with the townsfolk on the way there, they passed through the gate leading to the castle grounds.

Upon their entry into the grounds, they then proceeded to march through the dirt path leading to the castle. A few people were already present outside of the castle at various corners of the grounds, some of them were conversing and playing with one another, some were having fun climbing trees, some were somehow standing on top of the castle, and some were even fishing for fishes called Cheep Cheep at the lake or at the moat, somehow.

Aside from the trees, waterfall and mountains consisting the castle grounds, the castle itself was majestic, constructed with grey marble bricks shaping its rectangular appearance supported by four towers at its corners, with red rooftops. The highest tower situated at the center of the main structure has a large window at the front with the image of the Princess herself embedded onto it.

"Hehe! I can't wait to see how huge the party is gonna be!" exclaimed Luigi with his arms placed behind his head. "So today's the 30th anniversary, huh? Then this party's gotta be something super amazing from what the Princess wrote in her letter!"

Mario nodded with a big smile and a beaming expression on his face. "Mmhmm! It's definitely gonna be a blast! I'm sure of it!"

The green plumber took notice of his older brother's increasingly cheerful demeanour, though he already had an idea of the reason for that. "Hey, you look especially happy today, big bro."

"Am I? Well, this is a pretty big and important event, so of course I'm super happy!"

A teasing grin appeared on the little brother's face. "Oh yeah? Well, are you gonna propose to Princess Peach, then?"

The red plumber also tripped upon hearing his assumption, very briefly changing expression before going back to his cheerful one. "W-what? Nooooo! Of course not!" he denied the claim. "I mean, that would be ridiculous! Me and Princess Peach? That'll never happen!"

"Then what's this that I'm holding right now?" Luigi asked, as he pulled out a small box from his pocket and showed it to him.

At the very sight of the box, Mario hastily snatched it from his brother's hand. "W-w-what the! W-where did you find this?!" he asked, embarrassed.

"From your desk back home." he answered. "Man, you gotta learn not to leave personal stuff in plain sight."

"What happened to a brother's privacy?! You should know better than to take something important from me without me knowing!"

"Can't help it when curiosity gets the better of you!" Luigi defended himself.

"Geez, Luigi…" Mario sighed, now that he learned that his present to the Princess is known to his little brother. "And just for your information, this is NOT a wedding ring. It's just a present for her like any other presents."

"It's not?" The green plumber seemed unconvinced. "From how you reacted just a moment ago, I thought that you're definitely gonna propose to her, Mario."

The red plumber chuckled. "Well, I'm not. I mean… Sure, I want to, but you know how it is when it comes to a common person trying to marry someone of royalty. It's just not gonna work out, and my chances are as good as everybody else's."

"Bah! You're just saying that because that's what they say on TV!" Luigi stated. "We've known the Princess for ages now, so I'm pretty sure she doesn't care about silly stuff like political marriage or marriage based on royalty! Why do you think she doesn't want to go to Bowser anyway?"

"… Good point."

"Right? So why not just ask her out? I'm positive that she will really appreciate it!"

Mario still seemed unsure about the whole idea, as he crossed his arms, moved his gaze up and assumed a thinking expression. "Well…"

"Look, whatever happens, I'll support you all the way, big bro." Luigi flashed a smile at him. "If you ask me, I bet all of my coins that she's gonna say yes."

Hearing his brother reassured him on the matter at hand and seeing his reassuring smile, Mario could only smile back in appreciation. "Thanks, little bro." he thanked him for his support. He took a good look at the black box in his hand, its content symbolizing the many years of gratitude that he had for the kind Princess, as well as the many years it took for his feelings to blossom and more.

As soon as their conversation ended, they already crossed the bridge and were at the front of the castle gate. The Mario Brothers opened the gate far and wide before being blessed by the view of the inside of the palace.

The lobby of the castle, consisting of a ground floor and second floor with a flight of stairs leading to it, was already filled with colourful guests from around Mushroom Kingdom, most of them that are from Toad Town, while some are from other parts of the kingdom. While most of them are Toads, some of them are friendly Koopas, Shy Guys and even Goombas. Tables were already set up on the ground floor, each consisting of different objects such as plates and glasses, a huge selection of food, and a bunch of presents for the celebration. There were even performers for the party, such as music bands.

As soon as the brothers made themselves visible upon opening the gate, the majority had their eyes on the two brothers before quickly surrounding them in a crowd.

"Look! It's Mario!" exclaimed one of the excited Toads.

"Hi, Mario! Welcome to the party!" said another one of the Toads.

"Happy 30th Anniversary, Mario!" cheered one of the Toadettes, who are essentially female versions of Toads, but with a dress under the vest and matching braid-like plaits.

"Wow! I get to see the famous Mario in person?! So cool!" expressed one of the Koopas.

"Look how tall the guy is! And his shoes are sick!" exclaimed one of the Goombas.

Mario could only return the crowd's praises and giving each of them a returning smile, as the crowd kept on getting bigger and bigger and surrounding him… And ONLY him. Poor Luigi was pushed to the side of the crowd without anyone acknowledging him, even for a brief moment.

A moment had passed, and the crowd had finally dispersed, leaving only a small number of people around him. Luigi was able to join back to his brother's side. "Wow, Mario! It's been a while since you've had this many people come to you all at once."

"Mmhmm! It's a lot to take in, but it's so satisfying to see everyone with a big smile on their faces! You'll definitely know how it feels when the same thing happens to you someday, Luigi!"

"Hehe… Uh… Yeah…" Luigi replied, adopting a fake smile.

A Toad then walked towards them as he waved his arm at them. "Hi, Mario! Happy 30th Anniversary!"

"Haha! Thank you very much!" the red plumber expressed his thanks to the small being with a Mushroom cap.

The Toad then shifted his gaze towards Luigi to give him the same message. "And Happy 30th Anniversary to you too… Uhh… Umm…"

"Luigi." The green plumber said.

"Right! Right, Luigi! I was just about to say your name! Hahaha!" Toad laughed, trying to hide the fact that he had forgotten Luigi's name, a fact that the little brother is more than aware of. "But wow! It's already been 30 years, huh? It doesn't feel like that long ago when you rescued Princess Peach and kick that evil Bowser's butt for the first time!"

"Hehe! I guess time sure flies when you're having a blast." Mario replied, in which Luigi nodded in agreement.

Toad also nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right! But 30 years? Wow… Now that I think about it, I feel kinda old now…"

"If you ask me, you still look pretty young to me, little guy." Luigi reassured him.

Toad then briefly assumed a thinking pose before speaking out the first thing that came to his mind. "Ah! Speaking of age, I wonder how old are you two now?"

The moment he asked that of the Mario Brothers, instead of an immediate reply, the brothers suddenly fell into a depressive mood, with their bodies drooping and the shadow clouding their eyes. That left Toad confused by their reaction. "Uh… Are you two okay?"

"Don't… Don't ask about our age…" Mario implored to him.

"Yeah… Please don't…" Luigi begged in turn. Their request only brought more confusion to the little Toad.

It was then that the double door on the second floor of the lobby room was wide open, causing everyone to go silent and turned their attention to the it. The person who emerged from the doorway was none other than the Princess herself, still displaying her spectacular presence with her long, flowing blond hair and her beautiful pink dress fit for royalty. A small part of the audience all gasped in awe at the sight of her majesty.

Peach slowly walked passed the doorway with her eyes close and her bright smile showing, as well as her hands clasping with one another near her chest. Following behind her was an elderly Toad with a puffy, white mustache, wearing a beige cap with brown spots, a purple vest with gold buttons with another purple, sleeveless vest with gold trims layered over it. He has a pair of small glasses and wears a red bow tie, and he was seen holding a cane with a brown mushroom cap on top. He was known as Toadsworth, Princess Peach's steward.

The Princess descended down the steps of the stair case until she stopped midway. She slowly opened her blue eyes to the awe-inspired audience in front of her, basked in their starstruck sights. "… People of Mushroom Kingdom!" she announced. "People from various towns, villages, deserts and plains, big and small, from across the kingdom! It is with my deepest gratitude that you have all come to this castle, to our small capital, to celebrate the most important event in the history of Mushroom Kingdom!"

The audience all applauded at the Princess' announcement. The applause ceased when she held her hand up as a sign before she continued her speech. "A long time ago, this wonderful kingdom was founded by our ancestors to bring a peaceful life to our people, to escape the dangers of the outside world that once befell upon them. Its foundation was not without its difficulties. The kingdom comprises of various landscapes of differing climate, formation and wildlife. Its sporadic state was once widely believed to be impossible to adapt to, to sustain life on the land. But our ancestors persevered. And their dedication to creating the kingdom came to fruition, as our people, from the past up to the present, is now leading a peaceful life here, and I can attest to that as the current ruler of Mushroom Kingdom!"

Another round of applause was heard from the audience within the castle. When the applause subsided, Peach closed her eyes and over her head down with a solemn expression. "But back then, 30 years ago… It was believed that our peaceful life here was at an end, when the tyrannical king, Bowser Koopa, appeared before us. He intended to rule this beloved kingdom himself, and tried to take possession of him in order to do so. He wished for nothing but to reshape Mushroom Kingdom in his own image, that of chaos. None of us was able to stop him. None of us had the power to prevent that from happening. Darkness fell upon our home, as it was about to be changed for the worst…"

The Pink Princess took the time to contemplate a future where Bowser was instead the ruler of the kingdom, how much the land and its people would suffer under his tyrannical rule. As soon as she reopened her eyes, her smile returned, and she set her gaze at Mario, who noticed it and lightly blushed. "But it was then that hope has presented itself to us." she said, as she gestured her hand towards the Mario Brothers, and everyone in the lobby followed her gaze.

"Once strangers to our home, these two gallant heroes have displayed incredible skills that were more than enough to overthrow our tormentor and bring light back to this wonderful kingdom. Even as the terrible king continues to try and rule our land, they are always here to thwart his plans, time and again. This celebration is on the behalf of the heroes who saved this kingdom countless times for the past 30 years! Mario, Luigi, with all of my heart, and that of the entire Mushroom Kingdom… We thank you for saving us all!"

And thus, the entire audience loudly applauded to the Mario Brothers, everyone expressing their deepest gratitude to the ones who have ensured that peace remains in their home. Mario could only scratch the back of his head with a dumb old grin on his face, while Luigi had the same look with his arms placed behind his head… Even though most, if not all, the praises went to Mario alone.

"And now," Peach continued, making everyone turned all their attention back to her. "as a token of the entire kingdom's appreciation for you, Mario Brothers, we will officially start this 30th Anniversary celebration with a cake unlike anything that we have ever seen before, baked from the efforts from all of us!"

With that, the central part of the first floor started to descend, alerting everyone standing on it to spread out from it before it started to open itself up. As soon as the hole from the floor appeared, something humongous rose from the hole. With each passing second as the large object was rising, everyone in the castle could only stare in awe at how majestic and absolutely symbolic it was.

"Mama mia…" Mario mumbled, his eyes fixated on what he believed it to be the cake mentioned in the letter.

"Wowzers…" Luigi mumbled in turn, having the same reaction as his brother.

The large cake finally appeared itself before the audience, stacked with multiple layers that decreased in size from bottom to top, each layer perfectly representing each world in the Mushroom Kingdom, with its differing environment. And at the top of the layer, where the miniature-sized castle stood, the models of Mario and Luigi stood on top of the castle, under a rainbow.

"Hi!" exclaimed a pink Toadette who announced her presence and stood on the platform that rose along with the large cake, wearing an apron around her. "This celebratory cake is made from all of us combined, with our small hands, blood, sweat, tears, and plenty of dedication! Mario and Luigi, if you don't mind doing the honours…"

The Mario Brothers looked at each other with huge smiles on their faces before nodding to each other, going straight towards the huge cake to get their first slice of it, in which everyone joined in shortly afterwards.

The celebration has officially began, with lots of chattering among the invitees and music blaring across the lobby that filled the cheery atmosphere. The Mario Brothers were enjoying their time there, discussing with the crowd and and enjoying their many slices of cake.

A bit of time had passed, and as Mario was seeing eating his who-knows-which-numberth slice, he received a nudge to the side from Luigi, turning his look at him. "Hey, Mario! Now's your big chance!" Luigi said, as he pointed up at the Princess who was on the second floor, discussing with her steward.

"Wait, you mean now?" Mario asked, feeling uncertain if it was the right time to go forward. "I-I dunno, Luigi. This seems a little too early to go for it, you know…"

"You're just giving her a present, right? It's not like you're gonna propose or anything!" teased Luigi.

Mario was about to deny his claims, when he caught another glimpse at the Princess, noting how beautiful she looked and how pleasantly gracious she was. It was enough for Mario to take a deep breath, put his plate down on a nearby table, and prepared himself to meet up with Peach. "Alright… I'm going for it." he said, turning himself to Luigi while adjusting his red cap. "How do I look, little bro?"

Luigi grabbed a nearby tissue and handed it to him. "First, wipe off those crumbs on your face and mustache." The red plumber complied, took the tissue and wiped off his face with it. After he finished, he looked at his little brother again, who gave him two thumbs up. "You look good as new! You're ready!"

"Alright…" Mario took another deep breath, as he turned himself towards where Peach was located. "… Here we go!" he exclaimed before he walked towards the flight of stairs, with Luigi watching him from the back.

"Um… Princess Peach!" He called out to the Princess as soon as he reached the top of the stairs, grabbing the attention of both her and Toadsworth.

"Oh, Mario!" Peach smiled at the sight of her red-capped hero. "I am very happy that you are here with us today. How do you like the celebration so far?"

"Oh, it's great!" he replied with a wide smile. "It's been a while since I've seen this many people in one place! And the cake that you guys baked is really delicious! I can't get enough of it! You always baked the best cake around, Princess!"

"Teehee!" she giggled at his praise. "Thank you, Mario. I know that I could not have done it without the help of all of our wonderful people here. We have all placed our hearts and souls into it because it is such a very important event to all of us."

He nodded. "Uh… Say, Princess? There's something I wanna talk to you about."

"Oh, how wonderful!" She clasped her hands together. "There is something that I want to share with you too!"

"Really? Wow, what a coincidence, huh?" he spoke.

"Yes. But rather than doing it here, why don't we go to my office instead? I think you and I would both appreciate a little privacy."

"O-oh! S-sure! Right not?" Mario agreed as he lightly blushed. He wondered if Peach knew what he was going to do, but as long as he presented his gift to her, it would not necessarily change a thing about what he was aiming for.

Peach turned to her little steward. "Toadsworth, if you do not mind, I would like to go with Mario to my office, just the two of us. You can stay here to watch over the party in the mean time."

The elderly Toad nodded in acknowledgement. "Why, of course, Princess Peach! Leave this humble task to me!" he replied. "Now, you two have a pleasant time together, am I clear?"

"Teehee! We will. Thank you, Toadsworth." she replied as she bowed to him, and he bowed to her as well. "Well then, let us go, Mario." she said, as she led the red plumber through the pathway of the double door.

"Okie dokie!" he said as he followed her into the hallway.

Meanwhile, Luigi watched from the first floor as both Mario and Peach disappeared through the doorway, smiling as it looked like things would go smoothly as planned. Now that the rest was assured, all he could do is to have a fun time there at the party. He looked over around him to see the smiling, laughing and relaxing expressions on all the invitees' faces, as they all enjoyed the party together.

But it was then that his gaze stopped at the two Toad guards at one corner of the lobby who, unlike everyone else in the room, were not wearing any positive expressions on their faces. Rather, they looked concerned as they talked about something between them.

That peaked his curiosity, and after taking another look around the room, he decided to approach them to see what was going on. He walked towards the pair close enough to signal his presence to them. "Hey, you little guys!"

The two guards all turned their gaze towards Luigi, as their conversation got interrupted. "Ah! Hey, it's you! Green Stache!" exclaimed one of the guards, calling him by an unflattering name.

"You dummy!" scolded the other guard. "You know that's not his name! He's obviously Green Mario!"

"Uh… No, i-it's actually Luigi…" The green plumber corrected them, feeling a little down by their ignorance of him. The two guards remained unconvinced of his name. Deciding to shrug off the issue, he started to speak to them about their previous conversation. "Anyway, you two looked pretty worried about something. I mean, you two are the only ones out of everybody here to not look happy. Mind telling me what's up?"

The two guards looked at each other, unsure of what to do in front of the green-capped man. "Uh, I don't know… I don't think it'll help if we told you or anybody about this…"

"Besides, I think it would be better if we told Mario about what's going on. He'll know what to do." said the other guard.

"Wha-! C-come on, guys!" The green plumber could not believe the absurdity of their reasoning not to disclose the information to him. "You don't have to tell Mario about it, if it's nothing too serious! I mean, I can solve problems just as good as my bro!"

His attempt to convince the guards was ineffective, as they remained unsure whether or not they should share what they know to him. His body drooped and he sighed, as he gave up trying to convince them and just went for something that they want to hear. "Look, if I go tell Mario about the problem, would you please tell me?"

The guards looked at each other once more, and they remained there for a good bit before nodding and turning back to Luigi. "Well, you see…"

* * *

 

After their short stroll through the hallway, Mario and Peach reached the door leading to the Princess' office. The kind plumber was quick to open the door for her, and she appreciated the kind gesture. The pair then proceeded to enter the office.

The office itself was quite roomy, with pink walls with star designs on them that become synonymous for the Pink Princess, and a grey floor with a large, circular pink carpet with an image of a star laying in the middle. On the back of the room is where a white office desk was situated, near a large window with a balcony on the other side of it. The window itself was large enough to provide a good view of the castle grounds, as well as the town itself beyond the gate.

On each side of the room, there was at least one wardrobe each keeping either worksheets or precious belongings or rewards, and one drawer that served pretty much the same role. On each wall, there was at least one or two pictures depicting a famous person, a landscape, or a wonderful view of the kingdom at its finest.

The pair paced themselves into the room until they both stopped at the middle of it. Peach turned herself towards Mario with another one of her warm smiles. "Well, here we are. I must apologize for pulling you away from the party, Mario." she spoke.

"Oh, that's okay! I don't mind being away from the party, if it's just for a bit!" Mario reassured her.

The Pink Princess placed her hands behind her back and tilted her head. "So, Mario… What is it that you want to speak to me about?"

"Oh! Uh… Um, well… It's uh…" Mario tried to find what to say, what to do in order to give Peach his gift to her without being too forward or too reserved. He spent a good five seconds trying to find good approach, but nothing came to mind, and he ended up feeling flustered. "Uh, actually… Why don't you go first? You did say that you have something to tell me, right?" he asked, hoping that what she had to say to him would be enough for him to fully prepare his move.

The Princess giggled. "Teehee! Yes, of course." she nodded, her warm eyes never straying away from the red plumber. "Mario… I want to speak with you because I want to thank you for everything that you have done for me, for all of Mushroom Kingdom after all these years…"

"Oh? But didn't you already say that back at the lobby?"

"Indeed you are correct. However…" She lowered her gaze and closed her eyes while she moved her hands back in front again, clasping together close to her chest as her smile never once fade away from her expression. "… No matter how many times I've expressed my gratitude to you in a letter, in public in front of everyone… No matter how many times I have baked you so many cakes as a symbol of my gratitude to you… I felt that it is not enough, especially since you have been by my side for so long…"

Mario listened to the dear Princess' words without making so much as a peep. He had planned to get himself ready, but he found himself slowly getting engrossed by her feelings that spanned for many years. "When you first came to Mushroom Kingdom, when you rescued me from Bowser's clutches for the first time, I was very grateful. You came to us during our darkest times when we thought that all hope is lost. Your arrival was like a miracle that only happens once every century. I thought that I had lost hope again when Bowser captured me for the second time, thinking that he had learned from last time when you had arrived. A second miracle would not come right after the first one, as everyone says…"

When Peach moved her head back up and opened her eyes, the red plumber could see that they were filled with hope and gratefulness. "… But a second miracle did come. You have shown that you are able to withstand anything that Bowser had planned for you, no matter how cunning and elaborate they may be. Time and again, you have constantly conquered the terrible king, and rescued me in the process. After so many years, no matter how many times Bowser has kidnapped me.. I never felt fear. Because I know that you will be here to save the day once more…"

She then took hold of each of Mario's hands and held them up in front of them, surprising the mustachio man, but not enough to pull them back out of shyness. What prevented him from doing so was the sight of her beautiful smile gleaming with gratitude for the red-capped man. "Mario… I want to personally express my gratitude for you, for all that you have done for me for the past 30 years. You have given me hope, hope that our homeland will remain at peace for many years to come. Thank you, Mario. Thank you so much, my beloved hero."

"… Princess…" It was the very first time that the plumber had ever heard the Princess speak to him to such extent. Behind her words were her strong feelings for him that grew for many years. All the years where Mario had saved her and the Mushroom Kingdom countless times had all led up to that moment, where she could finally express her true feelings for him.

Her immense gratitude for him gave him courage, more than enough to go for it without fear. "I'm really glad that I've been able to do so much for you, for all of you…" he smiled. "Well then… There's something I wanna tell you too."

She nodded. "Yes. What is it, Mario?"

Mario withdrew his hands from hers, as he pulled out the black box from his back pocket, keeping it hidden until the right opportunity presented itself to him. "Well, Princess… I have something for you. It's…" Just as he was about to reveal his present for her, he trailed off, when his eyes caught sight of something strange.

"Hm? What is it?" The Pink Princess asked, tilting her head in confusion when he trailed off.

The red plumber noticed something strange outside from the large window at the back. At the horizon, a black spot seemed to appear above the capital. Then quickly, the black dot grew in size. It took Mario a split second to realize what it was. "Get down!" he yelled as he quickly pulled her down with him just before the large cannonball smashed through the window and flew across the room, barely missing the pair.

Peach screamed when the cannonball suddenly bursted into the room and broke through the door, leaving large hole in the process, as well as a crater when it crashed in the middle of the hallway.

The two of them both looked at where the crash site of the cannonball through the devastated hole where the door used to be. Then, a familiar mustachio man with a green cap on his head peaked into the room from the hole before looking back to where the cannonball was. "Oh no…" Luigi fearfully said. "Does that mean I'm too late? Is he here already?"

"Luigi!" Mario yelled out to his brother. He then turned his head towards the broken window, with a hole being left at the centre. The red-capped man then stood up and moved himself towards the window.

Peach was about to follow him, when she notched a black box on the ground that she had never seen before. Curious, she took the box in her possession before joining the red-clad hero.

The two of them looked through the broken window to see where the cannonball was coming from. Sure enough, just above the capital, there were several flying airships in the sky, floating with the aid of propellers on top of the masts and the back of the ships. All of them had flags bearing the symbol of a familiar beast.

"Oh man…!" Mario expressed his exasperation at the sight of the airship armada. "Of all the days that he would attack, it had to be on the 30th Anniversary!"

Bowser's fleet had already started its assault on Toad Town, firing their cannons at the capital with the beast's minions invading it to terrorize the poor citizens. A number of citizens all ran into the castle grounds, presumably to seek shelter in the castle. As the airships continued to float above the town with their relentless attacks, one airship in particular was flying towards the castle. It was unique from the rest because its figurehead was Bowser's head, signifying that it was his flagship.

Mario and Peach remained inside of the room while Luigi was still peaking his head through the hole, looking around with fright. Then, the ceiling of the room collapsed, startling the three of them. Soon afterwards, Bowser's minions appeared from above, entering the wrecked office through the large hole in the ceiling.

"Princess, get behind me!" Mario exclaimed, as he moved himself in front of Peach, shielding her from the hostile Koopas, Goombas and Shy Guys. Luigi, on the other hand, did not do the same, as he hid himself behind the side of the hole, shaking on the spot.

"Protect the Princess!" A group of Toad guards quickly entered the room from the hallway, as they all attempted to fend off the invading minions and prevent them from touching her highness.

As a battle raged on between the opposing groups, a large shadow loomed over the room. Mario, Peach and Luigi, who peaked his head in just slightly, casted their gaze towards the sky, and a large helicopter-like vehicle with a clown face descended into the office, piloted by none other than the beastly king himself. The leader of the Magikoopa joined his king soon afterwards, riding on his flying magical broom.

"Bwahahahaha!" Bowser cackled upon entering the room. "What, you guys are starting this 30th Anniversary party without me?! Where's my invitation?! Where's my cake?! I'm a part of this whole thing too, you know!"

"Bowser!" Mario shouted, further shielding Peach from the Koopa King.

"Tch! Figures that you'd be here too, Mario!" Bowser exclaimed, as he dropped himself off of his vehicle and landed fiercely on the floor. "But whatever! That only means that I get to pummel you right at the start!"

The red-capped hero smirked. "Save your breath, Bowser! I've been beating you for 30 years! We both know how this fight is gonna go, so why don't you take your fleet and scram?"

"Silence, you mere simpleton!" Kamek shouted at him, still flying around on his flying broom. "Your arrogance will greatly cost you this time!"

"You think that you're gonna beat me again, Mario?! Think again!" The beastly king roared. "Today's the 30th Anniversary! The day that you've humiliated me and robbed me of my victory! All these years, all these bitter memories of you beating me each and every single time infuriate me to no end! But today's gonna change! I am more fired up than ever before, and I will use my hatred of you to finally conquer this pathetic kingdom with an iron fist!"

"We'll see about that!" The plumber shouted as he pulled out his trusty hammer from out of nowhere. "Let's-a-go, Bowser!" He then leaped into battle with his hammer raised high, as Bowser assumed a fighting stance to strike back at him.

The two of them battled for the umpteenth time inside of the office, with Kamek floating around to assist his king whenever possible, while the Toad guards were still fighting against Bowser's minions anywhere else in the room. Peach and Luigi watched from the sideline, the former standing as close to the broken window as possible to steer clear of the battle, while the latter was still hiding from plain sight out of fear, occasionally poking his head in.

The Princess watched the ensuing battle, as she attempted to clasp her hands together near her chest to pray for Mario's victory. It was then that she remembered the black box that was in her hand upon seeing it again. She wondered how it got inside of her office, since she did not remember having any box like it in her possessions anywhere. Thinking over a few times, she realized that the box originated from Mario, who was with her alone before Bowser's attack, and that it must be his 30th Anniversary gift to her.

Peach decided to open the black box, wondering what the red plumber got for her. As the black box was widely opened, she gasped at the sight of what was inside.

Inside of the box was a necklace made up of star bits attached to a string. And attached to the necklace itself was a pendant in a shape of a golden star with eyes, made from a very rare and hard-to-find material. When she opened the box, the star-shaped pendant showed its radiant glow in front of her.

The Princess smiled fondly, her heart fluttering with profound joy, as she nearly teared up from the sight of her beautiful gift. She looked up to see Mario, who was in the process of winning yet another battle against the beast. "Mario…" She began to pray harder for her beloved hero's victory, hoping that by the end of it, she would reveal her feelings for him buried deep inside of her pure heart…

Her entire being suddenly felt a fierce beat from within.

She gasped out of shock, as she clutched her chest from where the beat occurred. It felt unnatural. She looked around to see if there was anybody who somehow did something to her, but all she saw was the battle that was still raging on in front of her.

Another fierce beat was felt from within.

"What…?" She whispered, not knowing why she felt the beat, causing her to feel afraid in the process. She clutched her chest even harder. It was not her heart that was making that sudden beat. It was something else lying deep inside of her. Like her soul…

Without any explanation, she felt that something was coming. Something dangerous. Something that will change the course of everything that they have been through…

The light from the outside changed colour, to that of dark pink, as the window and the wall behind her suddenly shattered apart.

The battle screeched to a halt, as everyone in the room all turned towards the collapsing wall. The crumbling pieces of the wall then looked like they were being sucked in towards the outside, as wind blew across the room like a vacuum. With each piece being sucked away one by one, an unexpected view was shown before them: A large, bright, dark pink magical circle, facing the entire room.

"What the heck is that?!" Bowser yelled, shocked by the sight of the large circle.

"A magical circle?! But neither I nor my fellow Magikoopas have seen anything like it!" exclaimed Kamek.

The fierce beating inside of her did not stop, and it kept signalling her of the danger in form of the circle that appeared out of nowhere. She took a couple of steps back away from it. And when she did, bolts of lightning ran across the circle from all directions.

Then, a hand emerged from its surface. Then a whole arm, then a leg, and eventually, an entire human body.

A mysterious hooded being in black coat with gold chains holding the collar together suddenly appeared before them, hovering in midair.

Peach took another few steps back when the hooded individual landed gently on the balcony. Everyone was at a lost of words from his appearance.

The hooded person slowly looked around the room, at the people that were present in it, at the wrecked state of the office caused by their bout. Then, he set his gaze down on his right hand, as he held it up. The hand clutched into itself a few times, as if the hooded being was testing something. Once he set his hand down afterwards, he placed his sight on Princess Peach, frightened by his appearance.

The mysterious person pulled out a crystal from under his cloak and moved it close to her. The crystal illuminated in a bright, white light in response. "… Princess Peach Toadstool." he announced. "You have something that I seek."

"W… What…?"

"The Soul Crystal reacts to other Soul Crystals when the holder casts its attention upon. You possesses one of them, Princess." he explained, putting the crystal away, as he started to walk towards her step by step.

Peach responded by walking back away from the hood man, her expression full of fear and the intense beating inside of her never stopping. Her back then hit the desk on the way, preventing her from moving further back and allowing him to get close and reached out his hand towards her.

"N-no!" she yelled as she shut her eyes close and shielded herself with her arms. A spherical barrier suddenly appeared around her, sending small bolts of lightning at him when his hand made contact with the barrier, forcing him to pull back.

"Princess Peach!" Mario shouted, as he quickly ran by her side and moved right in front of her, protecting her from the mysterious man with whom he casted his glare at.

"… I see." The hooded man spoke, staring at his hand covered in small lightning bolts until they dissipated. "The Soul Crystal protected you. It is imbedded deep inside of your soul…"

"Who do you think you are?!" The mustachio plumber yelled at the stranger.

"… Who I am is not of your concern." he replied. "Soon, it will no longer matter to any of you unfortunate souls, destined for tragedy. I seek to obtain that which will spare the living from a cruel fate." He raised his hand up as he pointed at Peach. "For that to be realized… She must come with me."

"M… Me…?" she whispered, as she pressed herself closer to Mario's back. The red-capped man fully intended to protect her from a hostile stranger after hearing what he had to say.

"You're going to kidnap Princess Peach?!" Bowser scoffed, as he took a step forward in defiance. "Like I would let you do that! The only one who is going to kidnap her is me! So stay out of this, chump!"

"This fool has no idea who he is dealing with!" Kamek shouted as he waved his sceptre around to cast a spell on him. "Let this all-powerful Magikoopa deal with this disillusioned soul, Lord Bowser! He will regret trying to steal her away before you can!"

Kamek swung his sceptre forward, as it shot out a beam of magic towards the hooded man. The mysterious being remained still and, as soon as the beam was about to reach him, flung his arm at it and destroying it. The Magikoopa leader was shocked to see that happening, as with everyone else in the room with him. "W-W-W-WHAT?! H-h-he swatted away my magic as if it were nothing!"

"Grr! Big deal! Let's see if you can handle my minions, then! Attack!" Bowser pointed at him and ordered his troops to attack him. His minions complied and all charged straight at him, fully intending to inflict serious harm.

Again, the hood individual remained still. Just before Bowser's minions could even lay a finger on them, as soon as they had their sights on his face clouded in darkness, they all immediately froze, as if a fierce glare was directed at them. The Toad guards all did the same thing.

"Huh? What's wrong with you guys?! I said attack!" The Koopa King demanded.

The minions were unresponsive. Their expression showed enormous signs that they were frightened by him, even more so than Bowser. Instead of continuing their attack, they all screamed in fear and ran way. The Toad guards all shared the same feeling, as they joined their foes in their escape.

"What the?! Where do you guys think you're going!? Filthy cowards!" Bowser growled at his fleeing soldiers, as they all disappeared deep into the hallway. "It's just one guy! Seriously, where's your backbone?!"

"… Your soldiers are wise." The man spoke, earning him a frustrated glare from the beastly king. "They know that it is a battle that they could not possibly win."

"Says you!" Bowser retorted, as he readied his claws in order to take him on himself. "They're just spineless cowards sucking on their own thumbs! I'll show them how it's done! I'm gonna start by pummelling you into the ground!" The Koopa King then charged towards him, with his claws ready to sink into his skin.

"… Unwise." The man raised his palm up towards the attacking beast and, with a simple thrust, created a powerful gust of wind that blew Bowser far back.

"Bwargh!" Bowser groaned as he ended up crashing through the hole where the door used to be to create an even bigger hole, as he slid far across the hallway unconscious.

"Lord Bowser!" Kamek yelled out to his fallen king. The Magikoopa leader glanced at the man who effortlessly defeated his king with an unknown power, then looked back at Bowser, then back at the man, before he immediately flew to where Bowser was and picked him up with his magic before flying for his life.

Mario and Peach were both shocked at the display of power that the mysterious man showed to them, for he had defeated Bowser without so much as laying a single finger on him. The man then turned towards them, causing them to become very cautious of him. "I will say this once more." he spoke. "The Princess comes with me. It would be wise to comply, if you do not want to share the same fate as the other."

The two of them did not move an inch. Even when fear was clearly shown in their eyes, they still attempted to resist in the face of a powerful individual. Luigi, who had been watching everything that was unfolded before his eyes, continued to watch as the mysterious man slowly approached them, almost looking like he was going to harm the two.

Biting his lower lip, he emerged from his hiding spot and quickly wave his arms at Mario and Peach. "Mario! Princess! Over here! Quickly!"

The two of them turned their gaze towards Luigi, who signalled them to run through the hallway, away from the man. Mario grabbed Peach by the wrist and they both proceeded to sprint towards the hallway along with the green-capped man. However, the mysterious man suddenly appeared between them and Luigi before they could even pass through the large hole leading into the hallway.

The man turned himself towards the little brother who got startled and took a couple of steps back. He raised his palm at him and thrust his arm forward, creating the same powerful gust of wind to send him flying further back into the hallway.

"Luigi!" Mario cried out as he saw his brother get blown away. Pulling his hammer out, he jumped at the man and swung his hammer down. The man dodged out of the way of the attack, but Mario followed up with more swings of his hammer. "You're gonna pay for this!"

"Mario!" Peach cried out for him, as she watched him trying to strike the hood individual with his hammer with no success so far.

Each time Mario swung his hammer at him, at any possible direction, the hooded man dodged all of them with ease by either stepping back or moving his body in a way that the attack slipped right off of him. Mario tried to swing his hammer once more, but the cloaked man flung his arm to swat the hammer right off of his hand.

"Enough." he stated before moving his palm up and created a gust of wind that sent Mario flying and crashing flat against the wall on his back.

"Argh…!" Mario groaned as he collided against the wall before falling forward from recoil. Peach screamed as she saw that harm was inflicted on her beloved hero, more evidence to show that not even he could stop the man from taking her away.

"You have fought courageously." The man spoke. "But courage does not equal wisdom. In the end, it is foolish to resist when the outcome is apparent."

The mustachio hero was about to fall flat to the floor, when suddenly, he quickly recovered and sprinted himself forward, throwing a punch that was aiming straight at the man's head. For the first time since his arrival, the man was caught by surprise by the plumber's quick recovery and retaliation. He barely dodged his punch by moving his head away from the attack range, and the punch ended up hitting the side of his hood.

"Grah…!" Mario fell flat on the ground after his unsuccessful attempt at hitting the enemy. He tried to pull himself up from the ground, while he turned his head towards his opponent, only to realize that his hood had come off, revealing his face.

The dark-skinned man had a shaved head. His right eye was sharp and gold in colour. What made him look more sinister was the fact that the left side of his face was all covered in burn scars, which also affected his left eye which was blank, with the exception of the outline where the iris used to be.

The terrifying sight of the man's face did startled Mario, and he ended up taking a couple of steps back upon pulling himself back up, just before he decided to stand his ground, intending to fight back regardless.

The cloaked individual placed his hand on the scarred side of his face, his expression being a mixed of melancholy and impatience. He set his impaired sights at the red-capped man. "… You are a bigger fool than I can ever imagine."

"You're… You're not taking Princess Peach away!" Mario shouted. "Not on my watch!"

"… I see. You will not stop until I leave, is that it?" He raised his right palm up, causing Mario to jump back and shield himself in preparation for another gust-like attack. But nothing happened. "… I will not leave. Not until I have fulfilled my objective." Dark flames suddenly appeared in his palm, surprising both the plumber and the Princess. The flames slowly extended into a rod-like shape before they dispersed, revealing a sword in his hand.

"If you intend to interfere despite my warnings…" The man adopted a stance in which he moved his left leg back, bent his right knee just a bit, and moved his right hand holding the sword to his left hip so that the sword is pointing back and downwards. "… Then I shall free you from your cruel fate. Immediately."

he quickly swung his sword forward. A single sword swing created a flurry of slashes that was heading straight towards Mario. The red-capped plumber immediately shielded himself with his arms to block the attack, but the flurry of slashes soon enveloped him, cutting him from every possible angle in spite of his best attempt to guard. Mario yelled out in pain as his body was struck everywhere.

"MARIO!" Peach watched in horror as her hero was being overwhelmed by the attack. As soon as the flurry of slashes ceased, he immediately collapsed to the floor, severely wounded in the process. "NO! MARIO!" The Princess tried to run by his side, until a hand was placed in front of her, stopping her from making a move.

The cloaked individual held his hand up in front of the Princess before sending her flying against the wall with another gust of wind that he created. Peach lost her breath upon colliding with the wall, as she collapsed and fell unconscious.

With the Princess out of commission, he turned his gaze towards the wounded plumber, taking a few steps forward. He spent a few seconds staring him down, for a small sign of life before deciding his next move.

A low groan escaped the plumber's lips, as he very slightly moved his body in an attempt to get back up. Seeing as he would not surrender, the cloaked man raised his sword up, the pointed tip aiming at the red-capped man's head.

"… It is very unfortunate that you and everyone else in the world will eventually suffer a great tragedy. Whether or not that you are responsible for such tragedy… It only provides more evidence of the cruelty that lies under the surface of the world. I wish to spare you all from such fates. But for you… I shall give you liberation this instance."

Raising his sword high, he prepared himself to thrust his weapon into the plumber to put an end to his life. After a moment had passed, he thrusted his sword in to deliver what he had promised to him.

… Until he suddenly stopped right before the tip of his sword could even reach a hair on him, as if by instinct. The man widened his eyes as he pulled his sword back and took a step back. "… This man… He…."

Before he could process what he witnessed, he felt a wave of weakness surrounding his whole being. He glanced at his left hand and noticed that it was slowly becoming transparent.

"… So even after all of this preparation, I was given very little time here in this plane." he said, as he dispelled his sword from his hand. "No matter… I have completed my objective." He turned himself towards the still-unconscious Peach and, with a motion of his hand, levitated her with an invisible force.

He started to hover himself in midair as both he and Peach were heading back towards the magical circle, to leave the area, but not before he casted one last glance at the fallen hero, expressing intrigue of what he witnessed.

Mario managed to lift his head up just in time to see Peach and the mysterious man retreating into the portal. Struggling, he crawled towards them in a vain attempt to stop him from taking her away. At the same time, just mere inches before they started to enter the gate to another place, Peach regained consciousness, looked around to find herself being taken away by the cloaked man before seeing Mario slowly crawling towards them.

"P… Peach…!" The wounded plumber struggled to call out to her, as he reached his hand out to her.

"Mario…!" Peach called out to him in turn, also trying to reach her hand out to him. She wanted him to find the strength to get up and pull her back from the man's clutches. She wanted him to turn things around and rescue her just as he had done so in the past. She wanted him to go against all expectations and prove to everyone that he will always be a hero against all odds. She kept hoping that Mario would overcome the difficult situation…

The two of them started to enter the magical circle. The mysterious man completely went through the portal, while Peach had just started to enter from the bottom in. The plumber continued to struggle to reach for the Princess, but more distance was created between them as she slowly went in further and further against her wishes.

"Peach…!"

"Mario…!"

With more than half of her body passing through the circle, it was clear to the both of them that it was too late to save her. With tears in her eyes and her arm fully extended to reach out in vain for her hero, Peach screamed out his name.

"MARIO!"

She completely disappeared through the circle. The circle itself vanished into thin air after it had served its purpose. The ordinary atmosphere and the light of the Sun returned to the castle… But the outcome was more tragic than cheerful.

Mario still had his arm extended to where the Princess had disappeared. Clutching his hand into a fist, he punched the floor, blaming himself for not being able to rescue her. After 30 years of saving her and defeating the bad guys, for once in his whole life, he had suffered an utter defeat at the hands of an unnaturally powerful man, and he had failed to rescue the Princess.

He remained lying flat on his stomach, pathetically blaming himself for what happened, when he noticed something on the ground that caught his eyes. Something familiar.

He once again crawled across the floor, trying to reach for the object on the floor. Once he was there, he picked up the object in his hand.

It was his gift for Peach. The star-shaped pendant. Except that it was missing its right half, and it did not show its radiant glow anymore. The poor state of the pendant symbolized his failure, as sorrow filled his entire being.

He was losing consciousness as his body giving in from exhaustion. He continued to hold the broken pendant in his hand, as a single name was uttered from his lips…

"… Peach…"

_ End of Chapter _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! It's me! Anomynous_Nin! And I am here with the next chapter of this story! Ok, I know that I said I won't post anymore chapters until I've written more chapters that better fleshed out the world, story and characters at the beginning, but I don't know myself better to keep a promise like that. So depending on how things go, you might see a chapter or two in a week or two... Or a month or two. I dunno. We'll just have to see how things go.
> 
> Now, here's the thing. I'm not planning on putting an Author's Note after the end of each and every chapter. Only some of them if I really have something that I wanna say about the behind-the-scenes stuff or announcements that might affect how the story is processed and done. But all you guys need to know that, starting now, I'll only have some Author's Notes on some chapters. Just wanna let you know.
> 
> Also, depending on how skilled my writing is, which, in case you didn't know, is not that great, there might be some editing and revisions for all chapters that have been published up until recently. So if there are going to be some editing and revisions in the future, I'll let you guys know.
> 
> Anyways, that's all I wanna say here. Like I said before, feel free to review my chapters if you want to, either positive or negative reviews. The purpose of me even publishing this story to you guys is that I want to finally share my ideas. If you're planning on staying for the whole ride, then I greatly appreciate it.
> 
> That's all from me, folks! I'll see you in the next chapter! See ya!


	3. Invasion of Chaos

It was the 30th Anniversary of that fateful day, when Mario had suddenly arrived in Mushroom Kingdom to save Princess Peach from the clutches of the Koopa King. A huge party was held at the castle to commemorate the heroes who pulled the kingdom out from the brink of disaster. The inhabitants of the kingdom were smiling, beaming with joy, celebrating their good fortune. The presence of their long-time heroes, as well as their beloved ruler of the kingdom, placed their minds at ease. That happiness would last until the end of the anniversary.

However, what resulted instead was the arrival of an enigmatic man, who made his presence known in a mystical way. The end result was the complete defeat of both the hero of Mushroom Kingdom and the beastly king at his hands, and the kidnapping of the princess to parts unknown. At first, the people of Mushroom Kingdom were startled by what transpired before them. But once Mario had declared that he would find Princess Peach and defeat the unknown villain, their worries were washed away.

Two months have passed since then…

No progress had been made that would lead to the princess' whereabouts. Numerous search teams were dispatched from Toad Town and various regions of the kingdom in search for their beloved ruler. Even Bowser sent his army to do a kingdom-wide search in hopes that she could be found. Despite their dedication, they were nowhere close to where she was.

The entire time, the hero of Mushroom Kingdom had participated in many search expeditions, as he felt responsible for letting the Princess be captured so easily, into the possession of an unnaturally powerful enemy. Despite his best efforts, not even he could contribute to the search progress any more than everyone else in the kingdom. Not a day had passed where he did not felt remorse of what had transpired on that fateful day, and what he could have done to prevent it.

Without the presence of Princess Peach Toadstool and knowledge of her safety, only loss and confusing filled the land of Mushroom Kingdom, its people wandering aimlessly without a shred of knowledge to guide them.

Amidst the confusion, however, a group of mischievous individuals saw it as a chance to take advantage of the situation and bring the kingdom to its knees.

* * *

It was the early morning when it was still dark outside. On one of the cast, green fields of Mushroom Kingdom, it was usually quiet during that time. Many people who normally traversed the fields during the day were resting either in a nearby town or in a campsite. Only beings that were accustomed to being active in the nighttime were roaming around the outside, usually small in numbers.

Mario was not one of them, but he fought off his exhaustion to continue his search for Princess Peach, despite his many failed attempts and the extremely low probability of finding her at all.

On top of one of the many high hills of the plains, the man with the red hat managed to climb up to the top regardless of his tiredness. As he stood at the peak of the hill, he looked over the enormous view of the land. Green fields in front, small forests at a distance, and large hills and mountains as far as the eyes could see. He had hoped that in any one of these places, no matter how small and obscure, the lost princess would be somewhere there.

The red-cladded plumber took a very deep breath through his nose, his chest expanding with air, before he screamed out a single name.

"PEACH!"

His screams echoed throughout the fields, for anybody in close proximity to hear. A murder of crows emerged out of the forests in response, as they flied out into the sky in their startled state. But there were no more responses after that.

Mario was out of breath from the incredibly powerful yell, panting for some air. Hopelessness soon appeared on his face, as he received no response anywhere. Just as it had been the case for the past two months…

The first light soon appeared in the horizon, signalling the break of dawn. Mario didn't realize that had been out for the entire night, and it was only then that his mind registered the tired state of his body.

How many days had it been since he had been out to search for the princess? How many nights had it been since he forwent sleep? He kept himself up by using his supply of mushrooms made specifically to energize him. Speaking of which, he put down his backpack and opened it up, and he found that he was running out of supply.

With a sigh, he proceeded to climb down from the hill. Once his foot reached the base of the hill, he was greeted by the worried sound of his steed.

"Yoshi?"

He turned around and his eyes were met with the sight of his trusty, dinosaur friend.

His steed is a green dinosaur with a large, round nose and a row of orange spines along the head. The dinosaur wore a pair of range shoes and a red, shell-shaped saddle on his back. Despite the kind of creature he is, his size is small enough to be relatively similar to his rider, only slightly taller. And unlike any ordinary steed, he can switch between a hunched pose suited for his rider to stand on and a straight standing pose like an ordinary person. The red plumber is proud to name him after the species he belongs to: Yoshi.

"Yoshi, Yoshi? (Are you okay, Mario?)" said Yoshi in his feral tongue, which was easily understood by many people of the kingdom. It was clear that the reptilian steed was concerned for his partner's wellbeing, seeing as they had been at it for a few days nonstop.

Mario gave Yoshi a sad smile, as he walked over to the dinosaur and gave a gentle pat on his round, green nose. "Sorry about that, buddy…" he apologized. He then got up on the red saddle, as Yoshi quickly assumed the appropriate pose. "Let's go back to Toad Town…"

Yoshi nodded in compliance, as he began to carry the tired plumber back to their hometown. There, they would take a good long rest before they resupply themselves and depart town to continue their long search, no matter how hopeless it may seemed…

* * *

"Oh my… Are you pulling my mustache, my good sir?" asked the concerned Toadsworth on the phone with someone else on the other line, stroking his white mustache in a stressful matter.

The elderly Toad was sitting at the desk of the missing Princess' office room, which had since been renovated after the invasion two months ago. The back of the room had been fixed following its destruction, looking just as it had looked before, and the door to the office had been restored as well, along with the floors of the hallway leading to the room.

"How unfortunate! To think that your town has also been ravaged by that brute of a beast… Yes, I am afraid that you are not the only one who suffered such callousness… Well then! I shall send in some of our scouts at once to distribute supplies and to aid in the relief effort! I wish you the best of luck!"

As soon as he hung up the phone, Toadsworth sighed, as he hung his own head down due to the amount of calls that he had to make in a short period of time, most of them relating to the same thing. It was bad enough that the Princess disappeared from them, but for the neighbouring towns to be struck with misery during that time of crisis? It was pure madness. It was as if the kingdom had lost its order over time.

"Ohh, why did misfortune have to befall upon our beloved kingdom, of all places?" The elderly Toad moaned as he shook his head. "Princess Peach, please return to us soon…"

A knock was heard from the other side of the door. The spectacles-wearing Toad lifted his head up and, after readjusting his small glasses, spoke to the visitor from outside of the room. "Y-yes, yes! Come in, please!"

The door opened slightly and a familiar man with the green hat poked his head from the gap into the room, his eyes darting around the office before falling onto the moustachioed Toad himself. "Hi, Toadsworth. Am I interrupting something?"

"Ah! Master Luigi!" Toadsworth exclaimed upon seeing the green plumber. "No, no, you have come at just the right time! What brings you here?"

"Well," Luigi started speaking, as he fully opened the door to walk into the room. "I just got a called from my big bro, said that he's coming back to Toad Town in a bit."

"Master Mario is returning?" Toadsworth asked as he stood up on the chair and his palms are slammed onto the desk. A brief hint of hope appeared in his expression as he hoped for some good news this time. "Has he finally located the Princess?"

The green-clad brother's response was a sad shaking of the head. The elderly Toad frowned and slumped back down into his seat. He knew that it was too good to be true, yet he had hoped. "This does not bold well for any of us… Two months have passed since then, and the entire kingdom is in disarray. None of us is able to quell the people's fears and to ascertain the Princess' safety. And now, we have THIS to deal with? This is too much for a good-natured, swell old bean such as I…"

"Um," Luigi raised his hand to ask a question, just noticing his stressful behaviour. "Now that I think of it, is there something the matter, Toadsworth? You've been acting more worried than usual lately."

"Ah, yes. That…" Toadsworth dropped himself off of the chair, as he paced himself in front of the desk with his cane supporting him, in order to face Luigi. "I am afraid, Master Luigi, that on top of Princess Peach being kidnapped, we have received quite a few reports of several neighbouring towns and villages being attacked while its people is still at a loss of what had transpired recently…"

"Wowzers! For real? By who?"

"Who else but that brute, Bowser?"

"Are you kidding me?! Like we haven't had enough of that lately!"

"Yes. The reports detailed that his ship armada suddenly appeared in the sky above the settlements one day, before his minions made their presence known by descending from the armada and stealing from the townsfolk. The size of the army overwhelmed those keeping their home safe, and the towns were left robbed of their possessions. To think that Bowser is heartless enough to take advantage of our vulnerability like this!"

"Yeah, no kidding." Luigi crossed his arms and nodded in agreement to what Toadsworth had to say about Bowser's callous invasion of many towns and villages. However, realization struck when he remembered just one piece of info that seemed to contradicted the actions that took place. "Wait a moment. Wasn't Bowser also trying to find the Princess, like we are? Why did he decide to attack now?"

"Hmph! Perhaps that he thought that the Princess is hiding somewhere in one of those settlements, or that he finally realized that he had free reign over our poor kingdom now that the Princess is gone. Either way, it does not change the fact that it was a cruel action towards the people of Mushroom Kingdom!" Toadsworth paced himself towards the back of the office desk, as he looked over the outside of the castle through the large window at the back, his right hand still holding his cane, and his left arm placed behind his waist.

"Hmm… You might be right." Luigi tilted his head as he assumed a thinking pose, still trying to make sense on Bowser's recent action. Then, one though passed through his mind, and he placed his hands on his cheeks and his face adopted an expression of realization and horror. "Oh no! What if he's gonna come and attack the Capital next?! I don't think any of us can handle this!"

Toadsworth could only sigh, as he came to that conclusion a long time ago. He had hoped that Bowser and his minions would leave Toad Town alone for once. But it was merely wishful thinking. "If that is the case, then I find it to be a cruel joke from the heavens…"

* * *

Meanwhile, it was yet another day in Toad Town. Another day without the Princess overlooking her people, another day where the townsfolk continue to wander aimlessly with increasing anxiety without any good news.

The sky was covered by grey, foreboding clouds that perfectly reflected the gloomy atmosphere of the Capital since then. While, in reality, such a weather only happened once in a while, to the townsfolk, it felt like it has always been the case since their ruler's disappearance. Not once did a day passed where they didn't wish for their Princess to return, for the bright, joyful day that shined upon the city to return, for them to band together to fulfill their wishes. But they could only do so much. All they could do is to keep doing what they were doing, and hope.

Amongst the crowd walking through the main square was a mother Toadette, holding her small son by the hand while he was busy munching on a sweet mushroom. They were simply walking along the other townsfolk down the usual path in peace.

It wasn't until the miniature Toad suddenly tripped himself along the road. "Ow!" The small Toad fell flat on the ground and the mushroom escaped his grasp, tumbling along the pavement, collecting dirt. The mother quickly came to his aid, helping him up from his fall. As soon as he saw his food on the ground, soiled, tears started to swell in his eyes.

"Oh no, no! Don't cry!" The mother attempted to calm her son down from crying. She quickly searched her hand into her purse and pulled out the same kind of mushroom as the one before, which originally belonged to her. "Here, have mine…" she said, as she handed him the fresh mushroom.

The son looked at the food held in front of him, then slowly took it off of his mother's hands. "That's better… Are you happy?" The motherly Toadette asked her son, relieved that she was able to pacify him.

"… Mama?" The boy looked up to her. "Is the Princess coming back home?"

"Why… Yes, my son. She will be back, I promise…" she replied, even though she herself wasn't sure if the Princess would return to them soon. Her reply was an attempt to bring peace in mind to him.

"Then when will she be back?" he asked again.

The mother hesitated to reply. Even she didn't know exactly when. She and any other civilian had placed their trust in the people in charge of rescuing the Princess, especially Mario, in hopes that her return would come soon enough. But after two months of nothing, was simply being hopeful not enough? How long would it take before peace was returned to their beautiful kingdom?

"Well… If we continue to believe," She managed to start forming a reply, as she gently patted her son on the head. "Then maybe she will return sooner than we think. It will be alright. The good people around us will make sure that she will be back."

The smiling son let his head snuggle against his mother's touch, as her calming words managed to ease his worries. However, he then noticed something strange from above. "Mama, look!" He pointed at the sky for her to follow.

The motherly Toadette let her age follow where her son was pointing and she too noticed something strange. The passersby around them all followed suit, when they all noticed a large shadow in motion, obscuring the grey skies.

As the shadow of the ominous object covered most of the main square, the townsfolk started to process what the object was from below. It almost looked ship-like.

Then, a small dot appeared right next to the object in the sky. It started to gradually grow in size. As the dot grew wider and wider, it was only then that the townsfolk realized that it was going to crash on top of them. They quickly dispersed out of the way, as something, or someone, crash-landed into the square, creating a crater around him as a result.

The being let out a large roar as he made his presence known to any surrounding folks. He is a large, relatively burly Koopa with a dark brown skin tone and a white face. He wore a black shell with multiple, short spikes along the surface, as well as a pair of metal, spiked cuffs on his wrists. He has a large, grey start marking over the left side of his face, covering his left eye, snout and cheek in the process.

The people around him instantly recognized him based on his appearance, and they all ran away from him screaming.

"ROAR! It Morton time to stomp puny heads!" roared Morton Koopa Jr., one of seven of Bowser's Koopalings, speaking in an unintelligent and simple manner. He pulled out a large rod from his backside and proceeded to transform it into a large hammer. He then started slamming it to the ground, demonstrating his strength as it produced small shockwaves.

With Morton's arrival, numerous beings started to descend from the ship, and Bowser's baddies have joined the fray to terrorize the people of Toad Town.

The townsfolk continue to run as far away from the enemy as possible, fearing for their safety. Some of them have also formed a large group with the intention of supporting each other while they try to escape from the grasp of the evil Koopalings. They kept on running, and running, and running… Until they were stopped when a large ring suddenly appeared around them.

The ring suddenly contracted and bound everyone together in one spot. The group struggled to get themselves free, but the ring proved to be too tight for them to break out of there. Then, a single individual came walking towards them, accompanied by her two loyal Koopa servants.

She is another Koopaling with yellow and tan skin complexion and yellow, tan head. She wore a pink shell with multiple, small spikes along the surface, a pair of pink heels, a long, beaded, red necklace, a pair of large bracelets around her wrists, and a pink bow with white polkadots. With her light blue eyes and pink, puffy lips, she easily deluded herself to be a thing of beauty, hiding her vileness underneath.

"Ohohohohohoho!" laughed Wendy O. Koopa, as she stood in front of the trapped citizens, bound by one of her magical bracelets. "That's right! Kneel before my extravagant beauty, pesky worms!"

The chaos increased as more of the town was being overrun by Bowser's minions, and many of its citizens are running away from falling victim to the evil army's wrath. The Toad soldiers finally emerged from the gate to the castle grounds, as they signalled everyone to go behind them as they started their charge.

Just as the soldiers started to make their counterattack against the baddies, the ground suddenly shook beneath their feet, stopping them in their tracks. The shaking of the ground slowly increased in magnitude, just enough to almost knock the soldiers off of their feet.

"Arf! Arf!" They heard a barking coming from the distance. The soldiers suddenly paled when they recognized the barking, and they slowly turned in horror to the direction of the sound.

Their eyes met with the sight of a large row of large, black balls with chains having a pair of big, circular eyes and a large gaping mouth with large fangs. The Chain Chomps were all charging at them at full speed, with no sign of stopping.

Riding on top of one of the Chain Chomps and leading the charge was a slim Koopaling with a yellow, tan skin complexion, green face and green, plant-like hair. He wore a green shell with spikes across the surface, a pair of metal, spiked cuffs on his wrists, and a pair of glasses with large lens that showed off his eccentric, blue eyes.

"Wehehehehehehe!" cackled Iggy Koopa, as he was clearly having fun riding a Chain Chomp and leading the charge for the sole purpose of rushing over his enemies. "Hey, everybody! It's show time!"

The soldiers had no time to braced themselves before the Chain Chomp stampede sent them flying across the town, like bowling pins struck by a bowling ball.

In no time at all, chaos overtook the once peaceful town, as Bowser's minions had the entire capital at their mercy. Standing amidst the terror was yet another one of the seven Koopalings, watching the scared townsfolk running away like ants, a wicked grin on his face that proudly showed off his fang on the upper middle of his snout.

The Koopaling with the green head and yellow, tan skin has large, wild, blue hair and a small pair of circular eyes. He wore a blue shell with multiple spikes across it, just like his other siblings, and a pair of metal, spiked cuffs on his wrists, again, like his siblings.

"Hehehe… What a glorious sight!" exclaimed Ludwig von Koopa, easily impressed at the havoc that his siblings and their troops had created in the capital. "Now that the Princess is gone and those weak fools' spirits are broken, this capital is now ours for the taking! All thanks to my outstanding leadership!"

"Hah! Don't be ridiculous, Ludwig!" said Wendy, as she joined her older sibling by his side, after she was done playing around with her 'playmates'. "Your so-called 'leadership' wouldn't have gone that far if I hadn't mentioned how this kingdom is helpless without that ugly Princess Peach! If anything, my wondrous beauty is what got us here in the first place!"

"Haha! That's a laugh!" Iggy jumped in, after he had disembarked from his pet Chain Chomp and let it roam free to keep terrorizing the city. "I'm just tagging along because it got super boring being cooped up in the castle everyday! I'm just happy that I get to chase after small fries for once!"

"Morton with Iggy! Morton crush puny heads!" Morton growled, as he made his presence known by landing right behind his siblings, his hammer hanging on his shoulders.

"Bah! It doesn't matter why we're here!" Ludwig declared, as he turned his attention towards the gate leading to the castle grounds. His siblings followed suit. "Whether it's because of my leadership or simply because it's fun, it doesn't change the fact that we're taking over this pathetic kingdom!" The elder Koopaling then threw his index finger at the gate, or rather, what lied beyond the gate. "My brothers and sisters! It's time that we capture the castle! Only then do we become the rightful rulers of Mushroom Kingdom!"

The siblings all cheered at the thought of becoming the people to rule over the land, throwing their fists in the air in response. Morton charged at the gate like a rampaging Chain Chomp and swung his large hammer at it, forcing the gate open and sending some guards standing near it flying.

Iggy swung his magic rod around to send magic beams at the other nearby Toad guards, trapping them in bubbles that forced them to float away from the ground. As the Koopalings and their troops behind them marched across the castle grounds, Wendy threw both of her bracelets at the majority of the guards stationed in front of them, enlarging them and binding the helpless guards just like what she did to a group of civilians back at the square.

The remaining Toad guards standing near the bridge connecting the castle grounds to the castle itself could only hold their positions in spite of their apparent fears, even as their enemies were fast approaching them. "S-s-s-stay back!" warned one of the Toad guards at the opposing army. "I-i-in the name of Princess Peach, I-I-I order you to stay back!"

Ludwig, Iggy and Wendy could only cackle at the guard's pathetic attempt at keeping them away. Morton, on the other hand, responded by roaring at his face. The guard screamed in fear, as he fell down on his behind and scooting back. The other guards reacted similarly, as they were clearly shaking in their shoes.

"Move aside, pesky pipsqueaks!" Ludwig demanded in a commanding tone. "Unless you want to be burnt to a crisp!"

While that was going on, the gate of the school was swung open, and Luigi came running out of the gate, only stopping at the middle of the bridge once he saw who was at the entrance. "M-m-mama mia!" Luigi stuttered with his hands pressed against his cheeks in horror. "I-Iggy, Morton, Wendy and Ludwig Koopa?! F-four of the seven Koopalings are here?!"

"Huh?" Ludwig raised a confused eyebrow at the person who came out of the castle gate. His other siblings shared the confusion at the sight of Luigi. "Who in a Koopa's shell are you?"

"Uh… Um… Hehehe…" Luigi chuckled nervously. "H-hi there. M-my name is L-L-Luigi? You know, Mario's little brother?"

The Koopalings looked at each other in confusion. "Mario's brother? He has a brother?" Wendy asked.

"Um, yeah! M-Mario must have mentioned me a few times when you met him, right?"

"Eh." Iggy shrugged. "I tend to forget about stuff like this 'cause it's no fun! I'm all about causing mayhem, not remembering stupid people's names and faces!"

"So you're Mario's young brother?" Ludwig asked. Luigi could only nod in response. That caused Ludwig to laugh his tail off at the revelation. "Hahahahaha! How hilarious! You don't look the least bit dangerous as Mario is! That annoying plumber had us by the tails every time we fought! But you look like such a pathetic plumber compared to him! Hahaha!"

The rest of his siblings, along with their troops, all joined him in his laugh fest at the man who claimed himself to be Mario's brother. Luigi didn't know what was worse. Being threatened by the diabolical Koopalings, or being unrecognizable and laughed at by their long-time foes? "A-anyway, you guys better back off! M-my brother's gonna be back any minute to send you guys back to where you belong!"

"Oh? Does this mean that Mario isn't here?" Ludwig grinned. The green plumber only just realized what he had just said, and sealed his mouth close with his hands. "Hah! That's perfect! That means by the time Mario gets back here, the entire Mushroom Kingdom will be ours to control! Such a wonderful opportunity!"

"Ohohohoho!" Wendy laughed. "We initially planned to take him on together if ever we encounter him, but this makes our taking over the kingdom so much easier now! Oh, this is the best day ever!"

"No time! Morton crush now!" Morton growled as he slammed his hammer against the ground, startling his enemies around him.

"H-hey, this isn't fair!" Luigi yelled. "Princess Peach has gone missing, and you guys just decided to take advantage of it to take over Mushroom Kingdom?! When everyone here is still vulnerable from it?! I can't believe that Bowser would be this cruel to do this, even more than he usually is!"

"What, that deadbeat of a king?" Ludwig scoffed. "Don't kid yourself! This invasion is my idea, not his!"

"You mean OUR idea!" Wendy corrected him. The elder Koopaling simply ignored her claim.

"Huh? Wait, what do you mean?" asked the confused man with the green hat.

"Hah! Lord Bowser is being a pathetic king, focusing only on finding Princess Peach instead of doing what really matters!" Ludwig explained. "He doesn't realize that we don't need that stinking Princess to rule over the kingdom!"

"Wait, so… You guys invaded the kingdom on your own? Not Bowser?"

"Of course! It really gets on my nerves that Lord Bowser only ever thinks about Princess Peach, and not the whole scope of things! Well, today, that's going to change!"

The elder Koopaling took a step forward, as he exhibited a commanding presence towards those weaker than him, namely his enemies. "We're going to finish what he failed to do! And there's nobody who's going to stop us from having our way! Not you, not Mario, not anybody or anything!"

* * *

Meanwhile, the squares of Toad Town were still being invaded by the Koopaling's minions, chasing and terrorizing the townspeople who were still helpless following the events of two months ago.

In the middle of the chaos that ensued, a small group consisting of a red-shelled Koopa Troopa, a Goomba and blue Shy Guy were walking down the city path, each carrying a bag full of valuables that they robbed from the civilians.

"Nyaha! This is gotta be one of our best days ever as Bowser's soldiers, right?" said the Koopa as he happily strolled around with his large bag hanging over his shoulder.

"Hah! Yeah!" The Goomba agreed, carrying his own bags over his head. "Terrorizing and robbing those poor idiots is a great change of pace when your head isn't getting stomped on every minute or so. Man, it's great to feel superior for once…"

"I'm just here to get the loot." said the Shy Guy, simply enough.

"Man, you gotta hand it to the Koopalings." said the red-shelled Koopa. "They made it seem waaaaay easier than how it usually goes with Lord Bowser. I mean, sure it's nice to kidnap the Princess every once in a while, but not so if it means Mario will always come for our hides just to save her. To have the whole kingdom bend to our will is arguably much better in comparison."

"Haha! You got that right!" The Goomba agreed once more.

"I'm just here for the loot." The Shy Guy repeated.

While they continued their casual stroll in the middle of all the mayhem around them, The Goomba noticed something at the corner of his eye that attracted his interest. "Hey, hey, guys! Look!" he notified his friends, as he showed them what he was looking with his gaze. "Here's somebody who looks like he's got something worth while!"

The two of them followed the Goomba's gaze and saw someone who turned the corner of a street. Goomba was right when he said that that person was somebody worth their time, as he was easily the most unique out of everyone they had encountered in the city. The group nodded to one another as they agreed to make the poor soul their latest target of their fiendish deeds.

The trio started running after the fleeing individual, their bags bouncing excitedly in their possessions. As soon as they turned the corner of the street themselves, their target was just within their sights, calmly walking down the terror-filled streets. "Hey, you! Don't move a muscle, and give us all of your stuff!"

"Hm?" The person who had his arms resting behind his back stopped himself in the middle of the street when he heard someone calling out from behind. "Are you speaking to me?"

"Yeah, that's right!" The Goomba replied. "You picked the wrong day to decide to take a walk, buddy! Give us everything you have, and we probably won't hurt you!"

"Oh my. Am I being robbed?" he asked in an innocent tone.

Only then did the Shy Guy realized that the person that they were aiming for certainly looked different from everyone else in Toad Town. Namely that he was very tall compared to any of them, and he didn't looked like he belonged to any species, as far as he knew. "Whoa, hey… Doesn't he look weird to any of you? Like… He's not like us?" he asked.

"Of course he looks weird!" replied the Goomba. "This guy looks like a human! You know, like Mario?"

"Then that means he's a foreigner around here, huh?" The Koopa chuckled to himself, as he found himself a very valuable target to steal from. "Listen, buddy. This is just standard procedures around here, alright? All you have to do is give us everything that you got. Money, jewels, precious things, anything will do! Unless you want us to give you a really bad time."

"Hahaha… is that so?" The man chuckled, as he turned himself around to face his assailants, showing them his full appearance.

The tall, human male with a slightly pale skin had a pair of black eyes and light blue, spiky hair directed above. He wore a blue, sleeveless Chinese shirt with yellow highlights on the borders of his shirt and ropes tying the shirt together. He also wore grey Shaolin pants, a pair of black shoes, and a pair of glasses with circular lens resting on the bridge of his nose.

When he made himself known to his robbers, he had a dissonant smile on his face despite the chaos that was happening around them, which weirded out the trio. "Forgive me if I say that I have no intention of leaving my precious valuables to any of you."

"Ooh, we got a tough guy around here!" mocked the Koopa, as he took a step forward as a way to threaten the man seemingly unflinching amidst the chaos. "Hey, buddy. This is serious business around here. You don't wanna end up like those other idiots that we took care of before, do you?"

"Hmm… I cannot say I do." The man replied, grabbing his chin in a moment of thinking. His smile returned after a brief moment, as he looked back at his assailants. "Oh, I know. Instead of me giving you all that I have, perhaps it is better for you to give me what I desire, for the best of our intentions?"

"You gotta be kidding!" The Goomba laughed, as he stepped in front of his allies to take the first action against him. "You must really gullible around here if you can't see what's at stake, four-eyes! No more games out of you! Time to cough up right here and now!"

The black-eyed man could only silently laugh at what had transpired in front of him, as he took a step back in response. "Oh, I assure you. This is no game."

The Koopa and Shy Guy were about to join their friend to ambush the gullible man, until they noticed that something was… off.

When they looked down at the man's shadow, they noticed that it had suddenly gone darker than usual, almost like anything that was covered by it was engulfed by it, leaving not even the smallest details behind. "H-hey… What in the…?"

"I thank you for volunteering to take part in my experiment, my kind friends." The man expressed his dissonant gratitude to the trio.

"Huh? What are you, deaf?! You're not supposed to thank the people who's gonna strip you dry of everything!" yelled the Goomba, as he took another step forward, not yet realizing the unnatural state of his shadow.

The man seemingly ignored his threats, as he proceeded to continue what he was about to say. "Seeing this town in a brink of ruins is the perfect setting for me to initiate my experiment on those who no longer value their lives. What I ask of you is only a simple request, just a simple one that does not require any amount of strength from any of you… Your souls."

The Goomba gritted his teeth in frustration, as he was about to jump on the spectacles-wearing man, until the Koopa yelled out to him. "Wait! Look down!"

"Huh?" He did what his friend said, not knowing exactly why he was told to look down. When he did, he suddenly jumped back in fright. He finally noticed the unnatural state of his shadow, just as the others were aware of it.

… And they all noticed a pair of glowing eyes from the shadow as well.

The glowing, yellow eyes blinked a few times, creeping out the trio. Then, it slowly started to take shape, as something emerged from the man's dark shadow. The trio nearly stumbled as they watched a mysterious being appearing before them.

The dark creature with the glowing eyes looked like some sort of a mouse almost the size of a Goomba, except that instead of paws, it had individual, dark spikes. It also had two, long antennas on its head. When the creature finally emerged out in the open, an imprint appeared on its forehead. It looked like a mark of an eye.

The dark, mouse-like creature fidgeted in place, moving its body in an unnatural way. It stopped fidgeting when it had its sights on the trio, or specifically, the Goomba. It then charged itself at him at high speed before any of them could react, leaving a trail of dark smoke and phasing through the Goomba.

"What in the world?!" The Koopa exclaimed, as he and the Shy Guy both looked back to see the dark creature standing behind them. However, they soon realized that the Goomba was not following them in their reactions, moving their gaze down at their friend.

The Goomba had his eyes fully wide opened and his jaws left hanging. He remained still after the shadow creature phased itself through him, much to the confusion of the other two. Suddenly, the Goomba fell forward down on the ground, dropping the bag across the ground.

"H… Hey…?" The Koopa quietly called out to him, but he received no response. He tried reaching his hand out to him to nudge him a bit for any response.

… The Goomba's body suddenly vanished like shattered glass that dissipated in the air.

Both the Koopa and the Shy Guy watched in horror at what happened to their teammate. They slowly looked back at the dark creature who was responsible for what happened to him.

And they noticed that it was holding some sort of white orb surrounding by light blue flame.

The creature casually dropped the orb down to the ground, as it disappeared through it as a result. And then, a pool of shadow emerged itself from where the orb was dropped. Another pair of glowing eyes appeared on it, and it soon began to take shape, taking on the same form as the creature.

The duo watched as another terrifying being was born right in front of their eyes. They then heard a malicious chuckle from the man behind them, causing them to look back at him.

The man still retained his unnatural smile, the lenses of his glassed reflecting light that obscured his eyes. It made him seemed like a monster hiding under human skin.

"Now," The man started to say, as he spread his arms wide for what was about to come. "The experiment… will now begin."

In his declaration, numerous pairs of glowing eyes started to appear in his shadow, one by one.

The terrified screams of the Koopa and Shy Guy were the only things that echoed across the capital…

* * *

"So what's it gonna be, fool? Ludwig asked Luigi, as they were still in a process of unwanted negotiations in the middle for he Koopalings' taking of the capital. "You're gonna hand the castle over to us or not?"

"Um… I rather not…" Luigi quietly replied. The blue-haired Koopaling took a menacing step forward, startling the green plumber. "Uh, h-hey! I have an idea! How about we bake you guys a delicious cake? It's a Princess Peach specialty, you know! In exchange, will you please leave us alone…?"

"Hmmm…" Ludwig tilted his head and grabbed his chin in a thinking pose at Luigi's suggestion. However, it was clear that neither he nor his siblings were having none of it. "Hmm… Morton, why don't I let you answer this for us?"

Morton's answer was a slamming of his hammer against the ground, creating noticeably shockwaves. The scared plumbed stumbled and fell on his back before he started rapidly scooting away from the opposing faction.

The Koopalings and their minions could only laugh at the pathetic display of cowardice from him. But it was not until their laughs were cut off by screams of terror coming from behind them.

Everyone in the castle grounds turned themselves around towards the gate leading to Toad Town. What they saw was numerous of civilians of the city running past the gate and into the castle grounds in fear. They also saw that some of the Koopalings' own underlings were among the people that were running away.

"Is that some of our soldiers?" Wendy asked, as she was rendered confused at the sight of it.

Confusion soon spread among the people who were stationed in the castle grounds, as the area was gradually being filled by the fleeing civilians and soldiers. A green Koopa Troopa, one belonging to the Koopalings' troop, tripped and fell down to the ground, at the Koopalings' feet.

Ludwig lifted the fallen soldier up by the shell, as he glared at him. "Hey! What's going on?! Why are you running away?!"

"Y-y-y-your E-E-E-Evilness…!" stuttered the Koopa, scared out of his wits. "T-t-t-the c-c-capital…! Our m-m-m-men…! T-t-t-there's…!"

"Out with it!" The elder Koopaling shook the poor underlying, his anger slowly rising.

"M-m-m-monsters…! D-d-dark creatures…! T-they're attacking both the townsfolk a-a-and our t-troops…! T-they did… s-s-something to them…!"

"Monsters? Dark creatures?" Ludwig repeated the Koopa's words, which only furthered his confusion on what was going on.

"Hahaha! I think he means the Fuzzies are attacking!" laughed Iggy, as he misinterpreted the soldier's description of dark creatures as being Fuzzies. "I get ya! Those pesky, black furballs are a huge pain in my shell, especially when they come at night while I was asleep! Wahahahaha!"

"Morton hate furballs! Morton smash puny Fuzzies!" Morton growled, as he marched towards the city to smash what he believed to be Fuzzies, based on the Koopa's description and Iggy's interpretation of it. Iggy decided to join his brother just for fun.

"N-no, wait! Lord Morton! Lord Iggy! It's too dangerous out there!" cried out the Koopa, trying to stop them from confronting the unsuspecting enemy.

The two Koopalings both marched through the fleeing crowd, both determined to take out the weak creatures of the dark, unbeknownst to the danger that awaited them past the gate. They reached the city, ready to confront the 'Fuzzies' that were causing trouble for them.

"Wehehe! Alrighty then!" Iggy declared, as he had his magic rod ready in his hand. "Now where are those pesky fuzz… balls…?" He trailed off when he witnessed what was actually happening to the city.

Within the capital engulfed in flames, filled with the population fleeing in absolute panic, it was being overtaken by small, dark, mouse-like creatures that were chasing the people running for their lives. As they watched the majority of the people running away from the dark creatures, they saw that some of them fell victim to them, disappearing in shattered glass, as the creatures hold white, flaming orbs as rewards in a process.

"Uhh… Are those… new kinds of Fuzzies?" asked Iggy, in an attempt to convince himself that the dark monsters were still Fuzzies in a moment of surprise.

It did not take long before some of the dark creatures, while they were still chasing the public, noticed that two Koopalings standing among the fleeing crowd. They all moved in towards the two for the attack.

Morton's first instinct was to slam his hammer down at the attacking monsters, crushing them underneath the block of steel as they disintegrated into black smoke. The grey-headed Koopaling then lifted his hammer up to see the work that he had done.

"Run! Run away!" screamed one of the Toads among the crowd of people that were running towards the castle grounds. "Run away from those monsters! Or else, they're going to take your souls!"

"Morton run? Morton NO run! Morton smash!" Morton growled as he decided to charge straight into the chaos to do battle with the monsters, pushing off anybody unfortunate enough to be in his way.

Iggy in his turn whistled with his fingers. A Chain Chomp then bounced straight towards him in response with chains dangling excitedly. The green-haired Koopaling immediately jumped and landed squarely on the Chain Chomp's head before they both charged in to join the fight.

Not long afterwards, Luigi, Ludwig and Wendy emerged out of the gate to see what was happening out there for themselves. Each of them reacted to the chaos and the appearance of the dark monsters differently.

"H-h-huh…?!" said the frightened green plumber.

"Urgh! How vulgar!" said the disgusted female Koopaling. "What are those hideous-looking beasts?! No wonder why our men are running away!"

"Hmph! I don't care what those things are!" said the mildly annoyed elder Koopaling. "The fact that those things are in my way to kingdom-wide conquest is inexcusable! Soldiers! Hold your positions and fight! Crush these insignificant worms!"

The two remaining Koopalings both decided to charge in to take care of the dark creatures. Some of their soldiers followed behind them to join in, while the rest were still running for their lives right through the gate.

Luigi, on the other hand, remained still, shocked and scared from witnessing what almost looked like a nightmare to him. Seeing all those dark creatures and what they did to the people after they caught up to them… He really wished that it was just a nightmare. But he knew from the bottom of his heart that he wasn't dreaming.

"Mama mia… What is happening…?"

* * *

 

The mysterious man with light blue hair was doing his leisurely stroll around battle-torn city, watching in delight of what was occurring around him. The dark creatures that he had summoned had invaded the small, pitiful town and had done everything that served to pick his intellect.

"Magnificent…" he said as he marvelled at the chaos that he had brought forth. "The power to summon creatures of the dark… The power to strip these poor fools of their souls… So this is the power granted to me by the darkness. How magnificent!"

The man laughed. "Yes…! The power to summon monsters called Kaos…! Such a wonderful power indeed! After so many years, this is the power that I was searching for! The power to shroud the world into darkness! Go forth, my wonderful minions! Drag this pathetic city down to the depths of darkness! All for the sake of my research!"

The man's menacing laugh could be heard across the city shrouded in flames of destruction, as he allowed the dark creatures to steal the souls of the unfortunate. A laugh that could only belong to an individual who wished for nothing but to see the world burn…

* * *

In the middle of the invasion, a group consisting of civilians and soldiers alike were one of the many groups that were running away from the swarm of monsters chasing them. Some of the guards had already informed them to take shelter inside of the castle grounds for safety. But no matter how much they tried to get there, the dark creatures were always thereto block their path, and they had to make several detours because of that.

As the group continued their endless run, a Toad suddenly tripped when he felt something grabbing him by the foot, as he got separated from the group. When the people in the back of the group turned their heads back to see what happened to the unfortunate Toad, they saw that he was surrounded by the monsters, and one of the monsters standing over him stabbed his body through with its spike limb and pulled out his soul, causing his body to vanish.

The sight of it only caused them to try and run faster. All they could do was keep on running until they reached a safe place away from the monsters.

"Wah!" Another Toad yelped when he tripped himself, falling flat on the ground as he got himself separated from the fleeing group. He struggled to try and get back up and continue running. However, he realized that some of the monsters around him were already jumping at him to collect his soul. The Toad shut his eyes closed and screamed, as he was about to share the same fate as everyone else…

… Only for the dark creatures to be swatted away by a swing of a hammer. When the Toad realized that nothing happened to him yet, he slowly opened one eye to see what was going on, and he was met with the sight of a familiar person that brought hope in his heart.

"I-it's you! Mario!"

Mario finally came just in time to save the fallen Toad from danger, holding his trusty hammer in hand which helped him fended off the monsters. "Hey, are you okay?" Mario asked the Toad, as he looked over him.

The Toad nodded in response. Immediately afterwards, he screamed and pointed at the monsters behind Mario that were about to charge him for another attack. The red-clad hero noticed and swung his hammer around to swat them off once more.

"Don't just sit there! Go!" Mario ordered. The Toad nodded once again, as he quickly got back up on his feet and sprinted away, leaving Mario to deal the attacking monsters.

Small waves of them were coming at the red plumber, one after the other. When Mario fended off one wave, more of them started to appear to take its place. Just as one of those waves were about to commence its charge at the man trying to defend himself, a very long tongue suddenly wrapped itself around the group, grabbing the monsters and pulling them into the mouth of the omnivorous dinosaur.

Yoshi managed to capture a good number of monsters into his mouth, and no soon after did they started to struggle inside to break free. Yoshi attempted to keep them in, even as he pressed his hands against his cheeks to keep them still. As their struggles became too much for the green steed to bear, he immediately spit them all out towards another group of shadow creatures that appeared.

It was not long until Yoshi noticed that the shadow creatures were surrounding him, all of them with the intent of overtake him by sheer numbers. When a small group of them all jumped at him, Yoshi spun himself around and let his tail whack the enemies off in the process.

When a larger group decided to do the same, the green Dinosaur jumped up in the air to avoid being trapped in a pile. His legs fluttered to keep himself in the air for as long as possible until they couldn't flutter anymore. When that happened, Yoshi immediately dived himself straight down towards the pile of monsters and slammed his bottom to the ground, creating shockwaves that sent the monsters flying away.

When Yoshi regained his footing, his rider instantly came by his side after the enemies had been dealt with. "Yoshi! Are you doing okay?" Mario asked.

"Yoshi! (No problem!)" The dinosaur nodded.

"Phew! That's a relief!" Mario sighed in relief, knowing that his partner was doing alright on his own. He then set his sights at what was occurring around him, noting the chaos that had been spread across the city. "But still… Toad Town is in shambles… By those things… What in the world happened here…?"

"Mario?!" The two of them heard someone calling out to the red plumber in a distance. When they turned themselves around towards a street, they both saw the young brother standing in a distance away from them, surrounded by civilians that were fleeing in one direction. "Oh, thank goodness that you're here, Mario!" Luigi shouted out, waving his arms up in the air to make himself noticed.

"Luigi!" Mario shouted out to his brother, as both he and Yoshi wasted no time to run and join him through the fiery street. "Luigi, can you tell us what is going on around here?!"

"Um, w-well…" Luigi stuttered, as he tried to explain what led to their current situation. "W-while you were gone, the Koopalings were invading some parts of Mushroom Kingdom! A-and then they came to invade Toad Town! A-and they came at the castle's door steps! A-and I tried to stop them, and there was screaming, and there were those weird, terrifying creatures, a-a-and…! W-well, anyway, we can't stay here! We have to retreat to the castle ground for safety!"

"Okey-dokey! Lead the way, little bro!" Mario nodded. Both the red plumber and the green dinosaur proceeded to follow the younger brother towards the gate leading into the castle grounds, where it was safe.

Once the two brothers and their steed arrived at the gate, they found that the area was being overfilled with a great number of people that were trying to move past the gate in great numbers. Several soldiers were stationed around the dense crowd to protect them from any incoming enemy attacks, directing them towards the gate and assuring them to stay calm during the evacuation. Neither of the brothers had ever thought that there would be something that forced everyone to evacuate like that.

"Mama mia, to think that this is happening to the whole capital…" Mario expressed his disbelief, as he watched the crowd attempting to evacuate in panic.

When he looked over to his brother, he noticed that Luigi was moving his head around for some reason, as if he was trying to search for something. "Luigi? What's the matter, little bro?"

"Wait… Where are the Koopalings and their troops?" Luigi asked, when he noticed that none of the Koopalings and their underlings were among the evacuating crowd.

It was then hat a large shadow was looming over the city, as the two brothers and their dinosaur looked up to see where the shadow was coming from. In the sky, they watched as the Koopalings' ship armada were departing away from the capital, with some of the soldiers still hanging on one of the few dangling ropes as they all escaped from their.

"H-hey! Wait! Come back!" Luigi yelled out at the escaping fleet, his words unable to get even an ear's reach from their long-time foes. The fleet armada flew away past the borders of Toad Town, leaving the civilians alone to deal with the problem themselves. "I don't believe it! They just turned tail and left us to our doom! The nerve of those brats!"

"Never mind them!" Mario said. "We need to focus on getting everyone to safety! Help me out here, will ya?"

Luigi nodded, deciding to push his frustrations towards the Koopalings aside for the time being. Mario, Luigi and Yoshi all assisted in getting the civilians to evacuate into the castle grounds, and making sure to fend off any monsters that came in their way at the same time.

At first, the evacuation process was going well. That was until a panicked scream was heard within the large crowd. "My baby! Where is he?!" cried out a female voice.

A mother Toadette emerged herself out of the dense crowd, her face stricken with panic as she looked around in desperation. "Where is he?! Where's my baby boy?! My son!" she cried out, as she was about to run off back towards the city, where the monsters were waiting.

Luigi managed to stop her by the shoulders from sprinting off to certain doom. "Hey, hey, hey! Stop it!" he shouted, as he tried to keep the struggling Toadette from running off. "I said stop! It's too dangerous out there, you know!"

"Let go of me!" The mother yelled, trying to slip herself off of the green plumber's hold. "You don't understand! My son is…!"

"Ma'am, please calm down!" Mario attempted to calm her down himself. "Just tell us what's wrong. What is it about your son?"

The mother's struggles lessened as she looked at the Mushroom Kingdom hero with tears in her eyes. "M-my baby…! I-I can't find him anywhere…! We were both trying to get ourselves to safety…! I thought that my son was with me the whole time, but… but he's not here with me…!"

"Wait… Do you mean he's…?" Luigi trailed off, as both he and his older brother took two and two together and realized exactly where her son might be.

Mario looked at the direction of the city, itself in shambles and overrun by those dark creatures. If what she said was true, then the young boy had gotten himself lost in the middle of the capital, surrounded by the evil monsters. It was more than likely that his life was lost…

… But Mario refused to believe that it was the case. "Wait here!" he said before he sprinted off right back towards the city in flames, to the shock of those who witnessed the dilemma.

"Mario?! Wait! Don't!" Luigi shouted out to his brother in an attempt to stop him from going in the middle of the danger, but his cries fell on deaf ears, as the red-capped plumber was determined to try and search for the missing kid in spite of the danger that awaited him.

The younger brother felt torn, as he was incredibly worried for his brother's safety, but he wanted to ensure that he himself was safe from the danger. He glanced back at the gate leading to safety, then back at where Mario left to battle through danger. He constantly switched glance between the two, as he was stuck deciding what he should do.

In the end, Luigi let out a worried moan, as he furiously scratched his hair in frustration. He himself decided to sprint off to follow his brother, who had already gone a sizeable distance away in the meanwhile.

The red plumber was running through the chaos-filled street, turning at each and every corner of the road and jumping on several buildings in an attempt to avoid being spotted by the dark creatures, wherever they were. His eyes constantly kept watch at what was in front of them, close and beyond, in search for a signal, small, young Toad lost in the middle of the flames of destruction.

He had already looked through a good chunk of the city, but there was still no sign of the boy anywhere. Yet, he refused to believe that it was already too late, and he kept on running and searching.

It was not until he heard an infantile cry heard from a distance away from where he was currently located. The sound of the cry reinvigorated him, as he ran straight towards the direction of the cry.

When Mario emerged himself out of an alleyway and into another street, he was able to see a single individual sitting in the middle of an intersection. A small Toad sitting and crying his eyes out, holding a half-eaten mushroom in his hands. "Waaaah! Mama!"

With a reassured smile, the red plumber immediately set off to get the boy. However, the dark creatures suddenly emerged themselves from the ground and surrounded the crying young Toad, as if that they themselves heard his cry. One of them raised its spiked limb up in an attempt to strike the boy down, just like the rest of the creatures' victims.

With gritted teeth, Mario pulled out his hammer and threw it straight at the menacing group. The flying hammer slammed itself against the group and sent them flying away from the crying boy.

"I got ya!" As soon as he reached him, Mario dropped to one knee and lifted the boy up in his arms, happy to find that he was unharmed. The boy continued to cry uncontrollably onto the plumber's shoulder. With the boy safe and sound in his arms, he was about to set off once more back to shelter…

… Only to realize that a huge swarm of the monsters were coming in his way from one street.

Mario tried to turn around and set off to the opposite direction, only to find another swarm coming at him from the other street. When he turned his head at the streets from each side, he found that both streets also contained a swarm each.

"You've gotta be kidding!" he expressed his disbelief, as he saw that his path was being blocked off. The swarms were moving fast, steadily closing the gap between him and them.

Mario prepared himself to jump off at the right moment, to dodge the monsters' attempt to ambush him from all around. As soon as they got close and were about to slam themselves onto him, the mustachioed man jumped off the ground, avoiding the enemies as they slammed against one another.

He smiled as he was able to escape from a risky situation, thanks to his superior jumping skills. However, his smile quickly went away when he felt something grabbing him by the leg, and he looked down to see that some of the monsters were able to cling onto him by the leg.

Because of the amount of creatures clinging onto him, he found himself descending much too soon from the weight. "No way…!" In a moment of panic, Mario quickly looked around himself to try and find a way to get out of that situation, anything that he could grab onto to avoid falling into a huge pool of darkness. But there was nothing around him that could help him.

In a split second, Mario noticed that in front of him, outside of the menacing pool of dark creatures, there was Luigi, who managed to caught up to his brother, but only a second too late. The younger brother glanced up to see his older brother being dragged down from the air by the terrible creatures, his face expressing pure horror.

"Luigi, catch!" By instinct, Mario tossed the young Toad at him.

The green-capped brother immediately reacted and caught the small boy in his arms just in time.

Mario spared enough time before he was forcibly dragged down into the dark pool.

"Mario?!" Luigi shouted out as he watched his brother getting plunged into the swarm of dark creatures.

The red plumber quickly emerged himself out of the surface of the large swarm, gasping for air. In an attempt to get himself out, the numerous creatures' limbs latched themselves onto his entire being, trying to drag him back down again. Mario groaned as he struggled to break himself free, but the combined strength of the monsters easily overwhelmed him. "Grr! Luigi! Go! Take the boy… and go…!" He managed to speak out his last words with his last remaining strength, before more limbs latched onto him and completely dragged him back down into the body of shadows.

When he could no longer hear his brother's voice, Luigi could only widened his eyes in sheer horror, as he watched each individual creatures within the swarm move one on top of the other, ensuring that their prey remained trapped within them and that his fate is sealed…

"MARIO!"

* * *

Deep within the depths of darkness, Mario continued to struggle against the darkness that enveloped him, swinging his arms around and kicking against the dense shadow.

But the more he tried to move against it, the more tired he suddenly became, and the more restricted his movements had become.

Once his strength slowly diminished, he found that he had great difficulty to breath inside of the darkness, as if he was somehow located in the depths of the sea.

 _'I… can't see…!'_ Mario thought. _'I… can't breath…! My body is… giving out on me…! Everything is… dark…!'_

He felt himself being pulled deeper and deeper into the depths of darkness, as his energy was slowly slipping away from him.

' _Is… Is this it…? Is this how my game ends…? But… there is so much that… I need to do… So many things… that I need to protect…'_

With his last remaining strength, he reached his arm out to the sky, in a vain attempt to breach out the surface and grab onto something that could pull him out of there. He kept reaching out, more and more… But nothing came…

_'I can't… go out like this… Everyone… is still in danger… Yoshi… Luigi…'_

His strength was nearly gone, his hand still reaching out in vain. Before he felt himself expiring, one final thought came to mind. One final memory. That of his beloved Princess and her wonderful smile…

_'… Peach…'_

…

…

…

… A warm touch was felt in his hand.

It felt like a warm, soothing hand was grasping his own.

Before he realized it, a bright flash of light occurred right before his eyes, enveloping his body, and everything else around him.

* * *

"MARIO!"

Luigi tearfully cried out his brother's name in vain. In complete disbelief of what he had just witnessed, the younger brother could only fall to his knees in despair, still holding the young boy in his arms.

Before he had time to grieve for his brother's lost, a small spark of light appeared in the middle of the large body of darkness. Then, it slowly grew in size. It grew larger, and larger, and larger to the point where it almost took over the majority of the swarm of darkness. Until suddenly…

A large beam of light suddenly shot itself up in the sky, creating a gust of wind all around it and disintegrating the swarm of dark creatures.

Both Luigi and the small Toad watched in shock at what had happened right before their very eyes.

* * *

The spectacles-wearing man felt that something was wrong when a large number of his creatures disappeared in a single instant. When he turned to look at the location of where they had disappeared, he instead saw a large beam of light shooting up in the sky, with a gust of wind blowing into his face.

"What's this?" he asked, caught by surprise at the presence of such a large beam in the middle of his invasion. "This light… It cannot be…"

* * *

The beam of light continued to shoot itself up, and only after a while did it started to dissipate.

Emerging out of the dissipating light was a familiar moustachioed man with the red cap, standing right where the beam of light was supposed to be.

Mario slowly opened his eyes, and he realized that, after a bit of looking around, he found himself back in the intersection somewhere in the capital, for an unknown reason. The black mass of monsters which were supposed to be there where he was standing had all but vanished. And he had no clue exactly why.

He then realized that his arms were up, and his hands were holding something. He looked up to see what it was, and surprise was all he could describe his feelings about what he saw.

He was holding a sword made of crystals. A sword with a double-edged blade and a cross-guard that resembled small wings made out of crystals. And holding them, including the hilt, all together was a crystal orb, located in the middle of the cross-guard.

What he did not realize was that he was holding the weapon capable of vanquish Kaos and Darkness.

**"You have been chosen… True wielder... of Soul Calibur…"**

_End of Chapter_


	4. Spirit Sword

A sword forged in crystals. A weapon whose appearance gave off an impression that it was created and wielded by the angels from above the mortal plane. The crystal orb and the tip of the blade emitted a radiant light that shined across the city in flames and shrouded by darkness. A sword capable of vanquishing the darkest creatures and lighting a path through the depths of darkness.

The red-capped plumber continued to stare in awe at the sword that he was holding up in his hands somehow. He could not comprehend what just happened. The last thing he remembered, he was pulled down towards the enormous swarm of dark creatures right after he tossed the small child to Luigi for safety. Afterwards, he remembered being blinded by darkness, unable to move efficiently and breathe through the depths.

The next thing he knew, he was perfectly fine, standing right back in the middle of the street, and there were no trace of the dark monsters anywhere around him. And upon his reawakening, he was holding a mysterious sword in his hand.

"What happened…?" Mario asked to himself, still trying to process what had happened. "And… When did I get a sword?" He moved the sword down to look at it, his eyes analyzing the angelic form of the blade and the magnificent material that it was made out of.

Before he could continue to try to fathom what had happened to him, three of the dark creatures jumped at him from behind, attempting to strike him down and claim his soul.

Mario could feel their presence, even more so than normal. By instinct, he turned himself around and swung the mystic sword at them, slashing through their dark bodies with ease. The vanquished creatures dissipated into black smoke.

Afterwards, the red-capped hero stared at the sword once more, amazed by its unbelievable power to slice through the monsters easily. "Whoa…! This sword feels incredible…!"

"Mario!" He heard his little brother's voice shouting to him from behind. When he turned around to look at Luigi, he saw that the green-capped plumber holding the tiny Toad in his arms was on his knees, his facial expression having a mixture of joy and sadness. Mario guessed that it meant his falling into the swarm of monsters and being trapped in darkness was not just his imagination.

He was about to rejoin Luigi, when he sensed something coming from behind. Turning his head around, at first, it looked like there was nothing, as the street was relatively empty, aside from the occasional flames and debris. However, from afar, he noticed that a small pool of shadow was formed, and it slowly increased in size by the second.

Once he realized what was happening over there, his mind was set. He could not risk escaping back to safety with the monsters constantly on their tail. "Luigi, get moving!" Mario told his brother, as he turned his body towards the dark creatures spawning from a distance. "Take the boy and get to the castle grounds where it's safe!"

"H-huh?!" spoke the confused Luigi when his older brother told him what to do. "Wait, what about you, Mario?!"

"I'm gonna take those monsters on." Mario replied. "I'm not letting them get anywhere near anybody ever again."

"B-but Mario!" exclaimed Luigi, as he feared that his big brother would be lost once more to the dark creatures, just like what happened moments earlier. "I-if anything happens to you, I…!"

Mario turned his head back towards his little brother. He threw a wide smile at him and gave him a thumbs up. "Don't worry! I'll be A-Okay!"

Upon seeing the smile and the thumbs up, Luigi's worries diminished significantly. Each time Mario gave him a confident smile like that, he knew that the Mushroom Kingdom Hero was in total control of the situation, and there was nothing that could stop him from coming out a winner. Knowing that his brother's mind was set, Luigi nodded, and he stood up from the ground and sprinted back towards the castle grounds, with the small Toad in his arms.

With his younger brother escaping back to safety, he turned his head back towards the incoming enemy. A large swarm of dark, mouse-like creatures emerged themselves out of the shadows. Their numbers were similar to those of the last swarm that Mario encounter moments ago. As soon as their numbers became large enough, they all charged towards the lone plumber.

Confidence filled the red-capped man's body, as he assumed a fighting stance. Both of his hands gripped the handle of the mystic sword, as he moved the weapon in front of him, the edge of the blade facing the approaching group of enemies.

"Alright… Let's-a-go!" he shouted, as he dashed towards the charging enemy, with the blade ready to make the first strike.

It was a large group of shadowy creatures against a single plumber armed with only a sword. As soon as the two parties got close to one another during their charge, Mario made the first move. With a downward slash, the red plumber struck the first few monsters in front of him, causing the group to split up from the middle.

The creatures began to encircle around him, preparing for their own strike against him. After taking a few steps back, the red-capped hero readied his stance, as he waited in anticipation for his enemies to make the next move. On his left, a single creature jumped at him. Mario retaliated with a horizontal strike through the body. From behind, another one jumped at his back. He turned around and swung his sword upwards, cutting the monster at a small, upward angle.

Yet another monster approached him by sliding across the ground, attempting to scratch his legs in the process. The moustachioed man responded by jumping back to avoid the attack, then swinging the sword downward at the monster's head.

His action of jumping back sent him near the edge of the circular safe zone. The dark creatures formed a monster toward behind him, and they threatened to topple over him with their large size. As soon as he noticed the tower of monsters, he quickly turned around and made a horizontal slash through them.

Some of the monsters that made up the tower fell over his head, and it only took them a second to recover and attempt to attack him again, all at once. Mario managed to defeat three of them in a row in three strikes, but had to dodge the next one by ducking when it jumped at him, and then jumped away to avoid the attacks of the rest of them.

When the red-capped plumber found himself back in the centre of the safe zone, he realized that the circular zone was getting smaller, as the swarm of enemies approached him inch by inch. He decided that staying there would not do him any good, so he looked around himself for a way to escape the approaching monsters.

When he first glanced at a building that he could jump up to, his first instinct was to run forward. When some of the monsters emerged themselves out of the swarm to jump at him, he used them as stepping stones to propel himself upward. Once he jumped passed the height of the building, there were three creatures that emerged themselves out of the roof of the building, and they all jumped at him.

In his descent, Mario cut through the attacking monsters with the crystal sword just before landing safely on the roof. Then, he proceeded to run and jump across roofs of each and every building he saw. The group of enemies all crawled up on the walls of the building to chase him down.

Mario continued to run and jump across roofs, slashing through any enemy that spawned in the way of his path. He soon slid to a halt when he saw that, on the net building that he was about to jump to, another swarm of monsters crawled up to the roof, on top of the other swarm trailing behind him.

Once again, the red plumber looked around him for a way to avoid being struck between the two large groups. From his left, he realized that he reached a T-intersection of the town, looking straight at the path that went straight ahead.

He then jumped off the building to that direction, narrowly avoiding being smashed in-between the two swarms. Then, he latched onto the arm of a lamp post and proceeded to around it. As the dark monsters started to climb up the street lamp to reach the moustachioed man, Mario let go of the lamp post arm to propel himself further ahead through the street.

More enemies started to spawn at the spot where the propelled hero was going to land. Upon catching a glimpse of the spawning monsters in front of him, Mario moved the sword over his head and, just as he was about to land into the clutches of the shadow monsters, slammed it on the ground, creating a powerful shockwave that sent the monsters flying out of the way.

After the plumber regained his footing following the landing, he looked to his back and saw that the swarm of creatures was quite a few distances away from him, as it tried to catch up to the red-clad man who was too quick for them at that point.

With a lot of time to spare, Mario was about to give himself time to strike back at his enemies. But it was then that a small pool of shadow appeared before him, bright eyes blinking. He readied his stance, as he waited for his opponent to appear in its small, mouse-like form. But what he got instead was something very different.

The form that the creature was taking was slightly more taller than usual, almost at the size of a regular Toad. It took on a more humanoid appearance instead of a mouse-like appearance like all the others that the plumber encountered so far. The new monster's appearance consisted of a knight helmet for a head, with yellow eyes peeking through the v-shaped hole, a pair of gauntlets with sharped fingertips, and a dark purple suit bearing the mark of an ominous eye on the chest area.

The knight monster demonstrated its never-before-seen form by brushing its clawed gauntlets together, creating sparks of fire, before taking on a fighting stance towards the red plumber.

"Well, that's new." It was the only comment that Mario had about the knight creature before he got attacked.

The knight monster started by running at the red-capped hero, then it spun itself around with its claws out in the middle of it. Mario moved his sword up just in time to guard against the rush of spinning claw attacks. Each time he guarded against an attack, he was being pushed back bit by bit.

The helmet-wearing creature then propelled itself up in the air by pushing its gauntlets on the crystal blade. Then, it proceeded to dive down claws-first towards the moustachioed man. Mario dodged the attack by jumping back, causing the clawed gauntlets to strike the ground instead.

After it pulled its claws out of the ground, the knight monster's next move was to swipe its gauntlets at Mario. The red plumber avoided the claw swipes by stepping back and moving his body just in time. Then, the helmet-wearing creature jumped off the ground once more to slam its claws down at him, who responded by shielding himself with the sword again.

The monster attempted to sink its gauntlets into the crystal blade, with the purpose of breaking it apart to strike the red-capped man directly in a moment of vulnerability. Mario was having none of it, as he pushed the monster off of the blade and sent it flying back up in the air. With a single hop, he moved himself up towards the flying enemy and swing his sword diagonally downward, slicing through its body.

The monster vanished in a black smoke, as the red-clad man landed back down on the concrete ground. He was about to give himself a brief moment to relax, until three more pools of darkness appeared before him, and three monsters emerged themselves out of them, taking on a similar form as the previous monster that Mario had slain.

"Figures there be more of them…!" Mario kept his sword up as the three knight monsters gazed at him with their glowing, yellow eyes before all of them charged at him at the same time, gauntlets ready to strike.

The three creatures all swung their claws one after the other at a rapid pace. Mario initially guarded against the first few attacks, but felt overwhelmed by their combined strength. He was then forced to dodge the following attacks when he could not keep blocking anymore, moving his body around to dodge each and every claw strikes and stepping backwards to gain some distance from the approaching enemies.

Eventually, the moustachioed man could barely keep up with the quickness of their consecutive slashes, resulting in the knight creatures managing to slash through the fabric of Mario's sleeves and the left side of his pants. The next attack from one of the monsters was an upward strike at his head. The red plumbed managed to dodge the attack by moving his back, but his trademark cap was sent flying back in the air from the resulting strike.

He backflipped away from the three monsters and, at the same time, grabbed his red cap in midair before putting it back on his head, to his relief.

Shortly after he landed back down on the ground, he saw that the knight monsters were already charging in the offensive, having no intention of leaving him enough room to breathe. The red-clad hero decided to take a risky move, as he gripped the hilt of the crystal sword with his two hands and charged forward.

When the two sides got close to one another, one of the creatures acted first, by swinging its clawed gauntlets diagonally at their human opponent. Mario managed to deflect the attack and push the first one off of him. The second monster attempted to thrust its claws at him in turn. Mario evaded the attack and ran past the second enemy. Finally, the third tried to swing its claws downward at the man's body, only for him to retaliate by kicking the monster away.

He continued the motion of his kick by turning around and kicked away the second knight creature's gauntlets away just as it was about to strike at his blind spot. He then proceeded to slice the monster's body diagonally.

The first one charged through its disappearing teammate and thrusted its claws straight at Mario's head. Once again, he evaded the attack by tilting his head to the side, causing the creature to lunge over his head. The monster wasted no time to lunge at him from the back after landing, as it latched itself onto his left arm.

The red-capped man attempted to swing the sword at the monster latching onto his arm, until the third monster ambushed him from behind as well, latching onto his right arm. That caused him to accidentally toss the crystal sword away midway through the sword swing.

"Grr! Let go!" He yelled at the enemies attached to his arm, as he swung his arms around frantically. They showed no sign of letting go, as they raised one of their gauntlets up in an attempt to skewer Mario's arms off.

The red-clad hero resorted to spin himself around rapidly, with his arms out, in an attempt to get them off of him. He spun around so quickly that the knight monsters could barely keep themselves steady to deliver the strike, and eventually, their hold on his arms slipped and they were sent tossing in different directions.

With his arms free, Mario immediately sprinted towards the tossed sword, which was lying on the ground just a short distance away from the man. He had just enough time to pick up the weapon before the two monsters both jumped at him from behind. Instinctively, Mario turned himself around and delivered a swift horizontal slash at both of them, granting them defeat.

The two defeated knight creatures vanished in black smoke, as the red-capped hero emerged victorious. He sighed in relief as he had defeated possibly the strongest monsters so far, as he lowered the sword down to give himself some time to relax.

However, his brief moment of relaxation was cut short when he remembered something else that occurred before the knight monsters made their first appearance to him. He took the time to look around himself. And what he discovered struck panic in him.

He found that the large swarm of monsters from before had managed to encircle him once more. He also noticed that the swarm no longer consisted of just the small, mouse-like shadow creatures, as quite a few knight creatures were among the large group as well. They all approached him quickly, with the intent of forming a dog pile over him.

The red plumber looked around himself frantically to find a way to escape the approaching group of enemies around him. Jumping was out of the question as the monsters had gotten too close and he would end up getting pulled back down by them if he ever attempted it once again. As the dark creatures had gotten close enough to him to initiate their group jumping attack, Mario decided to unleash his most desperate attack yet.

His hands gripped hard onto the sword hilt. His teeth were clenched against one another. A loud battle cry was let out from his throat. Mario's last-ditch counterattack consisted of his body spinning around with the sword out. He spun himself around so quickly that he turned himself into a human spinning top, slashing through any enemy that got into contact with him.

Each and every single one of the creatures jumped at him to overwhelm him with their sheer numbers. But what resulted instead was them being slashed into oblivion one by one, unable to get any closer to the spinning human even with their overwhelming numbers. As they all continued to try and form a dog pile over him, so was Mario with his rapid rotation of his body that did not seem to let up as long as his enemies kept on jumping at him.

The exchange lasted a brief moment. Each and every single monster that attacked the red plumber were all slain from the counterattack. The red-capped man barely managed to keep on spinning just as he slashed away the last creature. Mario's spinning came to a halt, as his upper body drooped from exhaustion and his arms lowered the sword close to ground level, the man panting from spending quite a bit of energy in his spinning attack.

Shortly afterwards, more monsters spawned around him, but in fewer numbers. The plumber gazed at the newly-arrived enemies around him, and he pushed himself to adopt a fighting stance once more, fully intending to keep fighting until he could no longer muster any more energy.

"Hah…! Hah…! Come on…! I can keep this up all day, fellas…!" Mario panted, directing his sword at any who dared to approach him.

He expected them to make the first move against him, but what happened instead surprised him. The shadow monsters suddenly walked back away from him, with none of them having any intention of fighting him at that rate.

"Huh…? They're backing off…?" spoke the surprised Mario, as that was a first from the unknown monsters since his arrival to Toad Town.

The monsters kept distancing themselves away from him. Finally, Mario was allowed to let down his guard, as he dropped to his right knee and stuck the crystal sword down into the ground, with his hand still holding the hilt to keep himself steady. Did Mario manage to reign victorious over the dark creatures? Did they decide not to attack Toad Town anymore? If that was the case, then Mario was able to protect the capital from any more danger, right?

"… How interesting." An unknown voice alerted the red plumber, as he quickly got back on his feet and turned towards the direction of where the voice was coming from.

A spiky-haired man wearing a pair of spectacles and Chinese clothing suddenly appeared before him. It was somebody that he definitely did not know, and who he was certain was not from around there.

"What? Who…?"

"To think that this is what I find in this area, where a battlefield supposedly took place." spoke the light blue-haired man, with his arms crossed behind his back. "When I felt that my Kaos Peons were being obliterated one by one in this area, I thought that this feeble town managed to gather formidable warriors who can fight back against creatures from the unknown."

He readjusted his glasses as he stared at Mario with a look of disappointment. "Instead, I found a single man wearing a cap of questionable designs… and whose weight leaves much to be desired."

"Kaos Peons…?" Mario repeated the name spoken by the stranger. It took him a second or two to figure out just what the man was referring to. "Are you talking about those monsters?" he asked the spectacles-wearing man. Not long after he said that did he became very cautious of the person in front of him. "Wait a minute…! Are you the one who sent those things to attack Toad Town?!"

"Hmph. Very perceptive of you." praised the spiky-haired man in a sarcastic tone.

"What…! Just who are you?! Why did you attack the capital?! And what in the world are those Kaos things?!"

"I do not believe that you have the right to ask me such questions." the mysterious man replied. "Nor do I intend to indulge a simpleton such as yourself who will soon share the same fate as this pitiful city."

"Just answer me!" demanded Mario, as he swung the crystal sword as emphasis.

The stranger could only smirk as he watched the red plumber become infuriated by his enigmatic ways of responding to him. But when he set his sights down at the sword that Mario was holding, his eyes widened in shock.

"That sword…! It can't be…!"

Mario raised an eyebrow confusingly, as he gazed down at the sword that he was holding. "My sword…?"

The mysterious man had lost his composure very briefly, but soon regained his calmness as he readjusted his glasses once more. "So this is the reason…" he whispered to himself.

"Hey! What is it about the sword?!"

The man chose to ignore Mario's question about the crystal sword, as a dissonant smile appeared on his face, as he bowed to the red plumber in a polite manner. "I believe I owe you an apology."

"Huh?"

"I did not realize that I am speaking to someone of great interest until now." he said as he straightened himself back up from the bowing. "As such, just this once, I will gladly answer but a few questions about myself and the circumstances surrounding this miserable town."

The individual spread his arms apart as he presented himself to the Mushroom Kingdom hero. "My name is Taishi Yang. A researcher of the Dark Arts, so to speak. And this madness that you have just witnessed happening in your 'beloved' home is a result of an experiment that I have conducted."

"An experiment…?"

"Correct." stated the man called Taishi. "In which this town filled with unremarkable people is chosen for me to unleash the power that I have discovered from investigating deep within the depths of the underworld. The power to summon the creatures from the dark known as Kaos."

"The power to summon Kaos…?"

Taishi continued. "Kaos are born from lost souls ensnared by darkness. Their only purpose is to steal the souls of the living for them to become Kaos themselves. Perhaps some of the Kaos that you have slain used to be inhabitants of this very kingdom." Taishi smirked when he saw that Mario had a horrified look on his face at the revelation. "In short, all of this discord that you see here, the destruction, the deaths… All of it is for the sake of my ever expanding knowledge. Knowledge leads to power. And power leads to knowledge. Such is my eternal passion."

"That's… That's horrible!" exclaimed Mario, having heard enough from the man who he found to be irredeemable based on all the terrible acts that he had committed with a smile on his face. "You did all of this just for the sake of knowledge and power?! You don't care what happens to anybody caught in your twisted desires?! Just… Just what in the world are you?!"

"A man who strived for greatness." Taishi replied. "I should thank your small town. They offered me a chance to increase my knowledge by using the power of the Dark Arts on those poor fools. However… It seems that my progress has been impeded by the appearance of a single being with a power that he should not have." The spectacles-wearing man raised his finger up to point at the person that he was addressing to. "You. The Hero of Mushroom Kingdom, Mario."

Mario was shocked that Taishi knew of his name, as well as his status in Mushroom Kingdom. "You know who I am?"

"My knowledge is profound. I take the necessary time to research many parts of the world, including your kingdom. Indeed, I know of your many exploits here, hero."

Regardless of whether or not the man knew of him, Mario knew that letting a terrible and dangerous man such as him roam free would place the rest of the kingdom in peril. "If I'm the one standing in the way of your knowledge, then I'll be the one to put a stop to it! Get ready, Taishi!"

"Hahaha… How adorable." Taishi chuckled. "You presume that you can stop me? Especially with that sword in your hand? You are quite the actor…"

He raised his right arm up in the sky with his right palm open. The red plumber was unsure about what the spike-haired enemy was doing, until sparks of lightning started to appear around the open palm.

Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning suddenly came down from the dark cloudy sky, as it struck Taishi's hand to no noticeable damage. Then, the lightning sparks started to from a distinguishable shape, somewhat like a long rod and something else on one extremity of the rod.

Then, the shape started take an appearance. Its full appearance was of a trident, consisting of a blue rod and a steel three-pronged blade, in which the middle part of the blade is longer than the side parts.

Taishi demonstrated his proficiency with the trident by moving the weapon around his body in a curved, sideways 8 motion while spinning it around his hand. He finished his demonstration by slamming the butt of trident down on the ground, sending dusts flying off the ground from the small shockwave.

"Let me first inform you this," Taishi spoke, as he got into a fighting stance, as he held the trident with his two hands and positioned it on one side with the blade facing his opponent. "Those who try to interfere with my research… I shall eliminate them. Personally."

In a blink of an eye, Taishi suddenly appeared right in front of Mario, as he was about to swing his trident up at the red plumber. Mario was caught by surprise by the unnatural speed of his opponent, and he barely had time to protect himself against the trident swing.

A single strike was more than enough to push the red-capped man back a few feet, as he struggled to keep his footing afterwards. "Whoa…! He's fast and strong…!" Mario expressed his astonishment at the sheer speed and strength that he had just witnessed.

When he gazed back at Taishi, the latter was simply standing a few feet away from him, smiling down at him in a mocking matter. The red plumber then went on the offensive by charging at his opponent, his sword raised above his head. The glasses-wearing man followed suit.

Once the two of them got close to one another, they each swung their weapon down at each other, causing a clash between weapons. The clash resulted in Mario stumbling backwards and falling on his back.

Mario felt disbelief once more, as he looked back up at his opponent to see the mocking smile still glaring at him. Once he got back up, the red plumber moved forward to deliver successive strikes at his enemy, swinging his sword from above, both sides, and below.

Taishi responded by blocking each of the sword swings with his trident with ease, moving faster than any of the moustachioed man's attacks. When Mario went for a downward slash, the spiky-haired man deflected it, pushing him off before swinging the pole of his trident at the red-capped hero's inner right thigh, causing him to drop to his right knee. Taishi then thrusted his trident at Mario's face.

Mario barely dodged the thrust by rolling back. When he got back up again, he charged in once more to deliver another sequence of sword strikes at the man, in hopes that he could actually touch him.

Once again, Taishi guarded against each attack with his weapon with ease. When Mario followed it up with a downward sword slash, Taishi moved quickly and thrusted the butt of his weapon against his stomach, causing air to escape from his lungs as he arched his stomach in to recover. The glasses-wearing enemy then stepped forward to Mario's side and swung the pole at his back.

The red-capped hero was about to fall forward from having the weapon slammed on his back, when the trident suddenly appeared underneath him. Taishi then swung the trident upward, sending the moustachioed man flying.

Mario fell back down on the ground and ended up rolling across the pavement. He groaned as he struggled to get himself back up from the ground, his head turning to look at his opponent.

The mocking smile was still there, plastered all over Taishi's lips. "Hahaha… Quite a pathetic display of showmanship, hero." he said. "It is quite clear that you have not been trained in the art of the sword. You simply swing the sword around as if it were a hammer. Such a lack of skills."

"Yeah?" Mario replied as he got back up on his feet. "Well, how about I show you what I'm really good at?" He followed up on his words by jumping high up in the air, moving himself towards a nearby building.

"Oh!" Taishi feigned surprise upon seeing the plumber's ever reliable jumping skills.

After landing on the rooftop and making sure to turn to see if his opponent remained stationary on ground level, Mario sprinted forward as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, trying to gain some distance away from Taishi.

During his sprint, he turned his head to his left to see if there was anything that he could use to get a high ground on his powerful opponent. Nothing caught his eyes except a street in flames, filled with debris and in constant watch by the Kaos monsters. He then turned his head to his right.

… And saw Taishi sprinting alongside him at close range, catching the plumber off-guard. During his brief moment of shock, Mario reacted by going for consecutive sword slashes at his enemy, who responded by intercepting each attack with a weapon clash, as they kept running and jumping across rooftops.

They kept going like that until there were no more rooftops to jump across to in front of them. Mario took it as an opportunity to leap off the roof and move across the air instead. He turned himself around when he noticed that Taishi did not continue following him in pursuit, instead stopping himself at the edge of the last rooftop.

Just when the red plumber thought that he was safe for the time being, the spiky-haired man pointed the trident at him and spoke a single word. "Extend!" Suddenly, the trident rapidly extended itself towards the leaping hero, leaving him with barely enough time to block. When the trident made contact with the sword, he was essential shot out of the air.

He promptly fell flat on his back on ground level, groaning in pain from the impact. When he opened his eyes up, he saw that Taishi was diving down towards him with his trident pointing down in an attempt to impale him to the ground. Mario managed to evade the attack by rolling away, and his opponent simply struck the ground in his descent.

The red-capped hero quickly got back up on his feet and reassumed his fighting stance, turning himself back towards Taishi who simply pulled his trident out of the ground and gazed at his sword-wielding opponent.

"This guy… is crazy…!" Mario spoke under his breath, as he found himself out of breath from the lengthy combat. "Nothing I dished out has any effect on him…! His power and skills… It's out of this world…!"

Having considered Taishi's superior combat abilities compared to his own, the plumber was reminded of the fateful day, when the mysterious individual suddenly appeared before them, effortlessly defeated him and kidnapped Princess Peach. "No… Never again am I giving up!" he reaffirmed his stance as he gripped onto the hilt of the sword tightly.

"Hmph. It is just as I expected from you." Taishi spoke, as he readjusted his glasses. "A man hailed as a hero in his home kingdom for his exploits. But in the end, you are still just a mere man, lacking in everything outside of your comfort zone. Even your famous jumping skills pale in comparison to what I have seen in my lifetime."

"You're talking as if we're done here!" Mario shouted. "I still have what it takes to turn things around! I'll prove it to you here and now!" He charged forward, as he prepared to deliver several sword slashes at his opponent with all of his might, attempting to get even a single hit. Taishi evaded the flurry of slashes by moving his body around, never bothering to lift his trident even once.

"How foolish I was initially." Taishi said as he continued to dodge the plumber's sword attacks. "To think I was troubled by the sword that you are wielding the first time I laid my eyes on it. But it is becoming increasingly clear that you are incapable of using it to its full potential." When Mario went for a downward vertical slash as his next attack, he had a brief moment of pause when Taishi placed his palm on the red-capped hero's chest. "How laughable." The spiky-haired man then thrusted his palm forward, pushing Mario and sending him sliding back a few feet.

Mario stopped himself by forcing his feet down into the ground and stabbing the pavement with the sword. He had to keep himself up with the weapon when his body felt weakened by the palm strike until he recovered and returned to his fighting stance. His panting clearly gave away his exhausted state in their fight.

"Though, I must commend you for giving me quite an entertaining show, for a mere man such as yourself." praised Taishi slightly, thought it was clear that he still did not deem his opponent to be worthy of his time. He then moved his trident in front of him in a sideways position, holding the weapon with his two hands. "But alas, such as with all entertaining shows… It must come to an end."

Sparks of lightning suddenly appeared around the trident user's body, as he started to focus energy from within. The amount of sparks started out small, but it slowly increased as the lightning started covering more and more of his body, including his trident.

The plumber was already preparing for anything that the enemy was about to do, fully intending to use whatever power was left in him to keep pushing through. When he was expecting Taishi to charge forward, jump at him, or even use his trident's strange extension ability, what the plumber did not expect was his opponent suddenly disappearing from his sights, leaving dust flying from where he used to be.

Alarmed, the red-clad man turned himself around, trying to locate his opponent and intercept his attacks as quickly as possible. No matter how many times he looked at his surroundings, he was still unable to find the trident wielder.

It was then that he felt a presence at his back. When he turned around to look, the first thing he saw was a palm positioned at his face, right before it shot out bolts of lightning directly at him.

Mario screamed out in pain as lightning struck his whole being continuously, as it coursed through his body in an endless cycle. The spectacles-wearing man simply stood there and smirked, as he satisfyingly watched his opponent suffering from the continuous discharge of electricity from his hand.

After a few seconds had passed, he put his palm away and took a couple steps back, his sights remained on the weakened red-capped plumber whose body still had a few sparks of lightning coursing through. He expected him to fall unconscious afterwards.

However, just as Mario was about to fall forward, he stopped himself by putting his foot down, keeping himself up, which caused Taishi to raise a surprised eyebrow. The red-capped hero threw an intense look at the enemy, as he slowly returned to his fighting stance with no intention of giving up.

"Hmph." Taishi scoffed, as he took another few steps backwards before pulling his trident back, the blade pointing at the still-conscious man. Lightning was once again produced around the weapon, with the majority of it focused around the blade. "This fight is over."

He thrusted the trident forward, and a large stream of electricity was shot out from the blade, as it was headed straight towards the plumber. Mario was unable to conjure up enough strength to block the electric beam, and he ended up being struck by it full force and sent back into a wall of a nearby house.

His screams of pain resumed as he felt lightning coursing through him in a larger magnitude than before, his body being pushed further back against the wall behind him. The force of the lightning surge was so strong that the wall started to crack around him.

Taishi pulled his trident back, stopping the beam of lightning. He looked at the result of his decisive attack, as the plumber's body remained still against the wall, with what remained of the lightning strike still running through it and eventually the wall. Mario then slowly slid down against structure until his bottom reached the ground, his body going limp.

The trident wielder let out a sinister laugh after witnessing the pitiful state of his defeated foe. "You and all of those living in this kingdom are primitive creatures, choosing to remain in the safe confines of your homes, ignorant of the world outside. As the outside world evolves at a relatively fast pace over the centuries, your kingdom chooses to evolve slowly, failing to catch up with the rest. That is why I find your kingdom to be one of the most weakest and obsolete places of the entire world!"

He readjusted his glasses once again while he continued to laugh at the poor state of the moustachioed man. "I am grateful that this place is chosen for me to perform my experiments on feeble and pathetic creatures such as all of you! It is no wonder that our kidnapping of Princess Peach was an astounding success!"

As his laugh remained uninterrupted and his boasting over the capital on a path of destruction continued, his eyes kept looking over the unconscious state of the so-called hero… Until he noticed something that betrayed his expectations.

Mario's fingers started to twitch just slightly. Then, his free hand started clutching against the ground. One of his legs began to lift itself off the ground, the knee bending in the process. Then, Mario began to slowly move himself back up, his hand placed against the wall to support him. He managed to stand back up, but it was apparent that his body was incredibly weakened, as his body was leaning slightly forward, his shoulders were struggling to lift themselves up, and his gaze was directed down at the ground, with his hat obscuring his eyes in the process.

"Hmph. You are quite resilient, hero." Taishi said, slightly surprised that his foe was still conscious even after so much punishment was inflicted on him. He then paced himself forward slowly towards him, brandishing his trident. "Perhaps I made a mistake of unleashing such extravagant power against you just to demonstrate the gap between our strength. My final attack will put an end to this for certain."

Mario did not move an inch from his spot, letting his opponent approach him with the intent of ending him for good. His sword showed no sign of being lifted up.

As soon as Taishi got close, he pulled his trident back with blade aimed at the body. "Perish." With his final word to him, the trident user thrusted his weapon forward to skewer the Mushroom Kingdom hero into the wall.

Suddenly, before the blade could reach him, Mario swung his sword to deflect the thrust attack, causing an unnaturally powerful weapon clash that sent his opponent pushing back a few feet for the first time since the start of their fight.

"Urk?!" Taishi expressed his shock as he staggered backwards, recovering shortly after. "What… What power…!" He looked in disbelief at the red-capped man still resting against the structure.

Mario then started to walk forward, his gaze still aimed down towards the ground. The trident wielder shrugged off his shock, as he proceeded to move forward towards him as well, attempting to finish him off with his next attack.

Once the both of them got close, Taishi raised his trident high to deliver a downward strike. Mario did the same with his sword. The two weapons clashed against one another once more, creating shockwaves around the two fighters that had not occurred during the past clashes. Taishi once again got pushed back from the resulting clash, stopping himself by digging his hands into the ground.

"Again…?!" Disbelief shaped his expression again, before he returned to his combat stance.

Only then did he felt something unnatural around his right arm. He set his gaze down at it and could not believe at what he was looking. "… Ice?"

His forearm was covered in ice, which explained the sudden chill feeling around it. When he moved his sights back at his opponent, it was then that he realized what was actually going on with the red plumber.

When Mario finally lifted his head up, his eyes were no longer obscured by his hat, and they were glowing in a bright, light blue light. The sword in his hand was also giving out a mysterious glow. A light blue aura was seen around the plumber that gave an impression that power was flowing through him.

"This power… That's impossible…!"

Taishi had no time to comprehend what was happening, when Mario suddenly appeared right in front of him in a blink of an eye and swung his sword at him. The glasses-wearing man managed to block the attack just barely and he was merely being pushed back as a result. Looking down, he noticed that ice started form around his left forearm as well.

Realizing that the tides of battle were starting to shift, Taishi focused the energy within him, as sparks of lightning enveloped his whole being and his trident once more. The two fighters charged at one another, and they began to exchange weapon blows, with each clash creating shockwaves that demonstrated their matched powers.

Ice started to form in the surrounding area, as they continued to trade blows with one another. When Taishi swung his trident horizontally, Mario parried the attack in a way that forced the trident to strike the ground instead. That created an opening for the plumber to swing the crystal sword vertically downward.

Taishi barely removed his weapon from off the ground and blocked the downward slash with the pole. Mario then forced his sword against it in an attempt to overpower his opponent, but the latter began to push against the sword himself. While a power struggle was going on, ice began to materialize around Taishi's legs, which was not left unnoticed by him.

In a moment of alarm, the trident wielder ended the power struggle by jumping back, causing the sword to slam itself against the ground. Once he landed back on the ground, he pulled his trident back, as it slowly became energized with electricity just like before. "Enough of this!" he shouted as he thrusted the trident forward, shooting out another beam of lightning heading straight towards the plumber.

Unlike last time, Mario dodged the blast by jumping high up in the air. The trident wielder's gaze followed him, and he realized that the sword wielder was diving straight down at him, with the sword pointing down in an attempt to impale him.

Taishi jumped out of the way of the dive attack, but realized too late what was happening the moment the sword plunged itself into the ground. Field of ice was produced out of the ground, and it encased most of his body in an icicle prison midway through his jump. "I… cannot move…!"

Pulling his sword out of the ground, Mario turned himself towards his trapped opponent, his eyes still glowing with power. He initially walked forward. Then, the walk turned into a run. And finally, it turned into a leap, as Mario pulled the crystal sword back to deliver a powerful horizontal slash at the defenceless enemy. An attack that would surely finish him off.

It was from that realization that Mario regained his senses, his eyes no longer glowing in light blue colour. Midway through the swing, he twisted the sword so that he instead slammed his opponent with the flat side of the sword, sending him flying straight into a nearby wall.

"Urgh!" Taishi groaned as his back made contact with the wall hard before he slid down against it, his body sustaining a good amount of damage in the process.

Mario collapsed down to his hands and knees, panting and sweating heavily as almost all of his energy was exhausted out of him. Until the last blow, he had no idea what came over him. It was as if he lost control of his body and it was moving on its own, unleashing a power that he did not know that he had. "What… What was that…?"

"Urgh…!" The glasses-wearing man moved himself back up from the ground with difficulty, as his body sustained injuries for the first time in a long while. "Hah…! You… chose to spare me instead of finishing me? What a naive decision…"

Mario lifted his head up to look at his struggling foe. He then remembered what the man said a while ago. He struggled to get himself back up on his feet, as he pointed the sword at him. "You… You know where Peach is, didn't you…?! So that means… You're in league with the man with the scar on his face, right?!"

Taishi merely looked at him. "… Is that what you are speculating?"

"Answer me!" demanded Mario, as he brandished the sword. "The Princess' kidnapping, and the invasion here in Toad Town… They're both connected, right?! It's not a coincidence that you invaded the capital! Just tell me… Where is Princess Peach?!"

Silence was all he received from the trident user. Taishi took the time to readjust his glasses. "… I have no intention of disclosing anything to you." Mario clenched his teeth in anger, as he was refused an answer out of him. "… But I will grant you one piece of information, if you so desire. One minuscule piece." What Taishi said to him certainly attracted the plumber's attention. "… You will never find your beloved Princess in Mushroom Kingdom."

Mario was confused at his words. He will never find her in the kingdom? He took a moment contemplate the glasses-wearing man's exact words. Then, realization struck. "Wait… Do you mean…?"

A cracking sound was heard within earshot. Mario widened his eyes in shock at what he just saw.

The left side of Taishi's face started to crack. A crack mark was made visible to the plumber. Directing his eyes towards the crack and motioning his hand over it, Taishi could only scoff at its meaning. "… It seems that it has reached its limit." he said, as he dispelled the trident from his hand. "Rejoice, hero. Your kingdom is safe… for now."

"Taishi… What in the world are you?"

"As I've said before… A man who strived for greatness." he replied.

Before the red-clad hero could ask the strange man any further, a mysterious, dark pink light started to glow on the wall that Taishi was resting on. A large circle of intricate design then manifested itself on the wall, its size big enough to contain the trident wielder's body.

It was the same magical circle that appeared two months ago at the castle.

"Hero," Taishi started to speak, smirking at the red-capped man. "This world is vast. It is beyond your comprehension. You cannot hope to save your precious Princess with no knowledge of what awaits you from beyond. You are but a mere simpleton…"

Taishi started to move back, his body slowly entering the magical circle to an unknown location. When Mario realized what was happening, he began to run towards him in an attempt to stop him from escaping. "No! Wait!"

"… You are quite interesting, Mario." Taishi said, his body almost entering the portal completely. "Which is why that the next time we meet… Your death will be certain."

Just as Mario was about to reach him, he completely vanished into the portal. The magical circle disappeared, and the dark pink glow ceased. The plumber's hand ended up touching the solid wall, as he failed to stop the fleeing man in time.

"… What in the world is going on…?" Mario asked himself in light of what he had just witnessed. He then remembered that the dark creatures known as Kaos were still roaming around the capital, as he looked around himself to see a number of them remaining around the streets.

It was then that each and every one of the Kaos monsters dissolved into pools of shadow that eventually shrunk in size, until there was nothing left of them. With their disappearances, all that remained in the battlefield were debris still resting on the streets, several buildings either destroyed or damaged in the process, and a huge field of ice produced from the fight. Eventually, the flames surrounding the capital subsided, leaving only smokes from where they used to be.

The invasion was over…

* * *

Sounds of destruction had gone silent for quite some time. The gate leading to the castle grounds opened very slightly, as the green plumber peaked through the small opening to examine the area. There were no signs of the dark creatures anywhere, and flames seemed to have died down, leaving only noticeable smokes in their wake.

Cautiously, Luigi fully opened the gate, as he, Yoshi and all of the inhabitants of the capital emerged themselves out of there, looking around the area to see that the chaos had diminished, and there were no trace of the shadow creatures at all.

"It stopped…?" said Luigi, as he could not believe that the dark monsters ceased their invasion. The majority of the townsfolk shared his sentiment. It really felt like Toad Town had its peace restored.

"Yoshi! (Look!)" Yoshi shouted as he pointed his finger at what he noticed. Everyone followed it and they all saw someone walking towards the gate down the street.

To their upmost relief, it was Mario who emerged himself out of the battlefield with some not-too-serious injuries on his being, holding the mysterious crystal sword in his hand.

The younger brother felt relieved the most out of everyone there. Seeing his older brother coming out safe and sound made him extremely glad. Just when he was about to shout out to him, Luigi was suddenly trampled by the entire townsfolk, who all ran towards the Mushroom Kingdom hero. "Wah!"

"It's Mario! He's okay!" shouted one of the Toad citizens, as the crowd gathered around their hero, each and every single one of them expressing their full gratitude to him.

"It's really you, Mario! I can't believe it's really you!"

"You beat all those scary monsters, right?! Wow, you're super amazing!"

"That's our Mario! There's nothing that he can't do to save Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Hey, guys! Let's all throw a big party for our big hero!"

Mario smiled as the townspeople around him approached him full of energy. He was happy that they were all safe and sound from the danger that occurred moments ago, by some kind of miracle, he thought.

"Mario!" The green plumber's voice was heard calling out his brother's name. Both Luigi and Yoshi slipped through the enormous crowd, apologizing to anybody that they passed through, in order to meet the red-capped plumber face to face at last. "Mario…! I can't believe that you're alright…!"

"Yeah… Me either." Mario said.

"When I took shelter in the castle grounds with everyone else, I can't stop worrying about what might happen to you…! I know that you said that you'll be okay, but against those weird monsters that we don't even know where they're coming from…! I'm just… I'm just so relieved that nothing happened to you, big bro!"

Mario smiled at his brother, as he placed his hand on the green plumber's shoulder in a reassuring way. "I'm just glad that everyone here is alright. That's what matters me the most." Upon hearing his big brother's words, Luigi returned the smile with his own.

"Yoshi! Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi! Yoshi Yoshi! Yoshi! (Wow, Mario! That must have been amazing! You've fought all of those weird mouse things all by yourself and won! Wait 'til everybody back at the island hears about this!)" exclaimed the excited Yoshi, as he hopped around his partner.

Mario could only chuckle at his trusty steed's excitement. Luigi joined in on the laughter as well. But then, the younger brother remembered something strange that got him puzzled, upon looking at the crystal sword in the red plumber's hand. "Hey, by the way… Where did you get that sword in the first place?"

Mario gazed down at the sword that his brother was referring to. Throughout the battle, he himself wondered exactly where and how he obtained the mysterious weapon. "I… I don't know. It just happened to appear in my hands, somehow." he replied. "But all I know… is that it's thanks to this that I was able to win."

"Weird…"

The two brothers looked at the sword, mystified by its sudden appearance in the middle of the chaos and questioning the circumstances that led it to magically appear in the older brother's possession.

"Yoshi! (Look! Up there!)" Yoshi shouted as he pointed at the sky. The two brothers and the townsfolk all looked up at where the green dinosaur was pointing at, and they were treated with a mystic scene.

Tons and tons of white, flaming orbs were floating above the town, moving in an irregular, but serene pattern that eventually lead to the sky. The scene looked mysterious, but at the same time, it looked wonderful, as everyone present watched the mystical show in awe.

"They're souls…" Mario said, as he remembered where the Kaos originated from, and what the white, floating orbs represented.

The fleeting souls continued to hover around the capital, until they floated high enough to disappear into the sky, returning to where they belonged.

For the first time in a long while, a ray of light pierced through the dark clouds, as it shined over Toad Town in its peaceful state once more…

* * *

Deep within a dark, unknown hall, a large cauldron emitting a very large blue flame stood near the very end of the large chamber, illuminating the small part of the room alongside several standing chandeliers surrounding it, all emitting blue flames as well.

A single, cloaked figure was sitting on his knees in front of the large cauldron, his palms resting on his laps, as he meditated. During his meditation, he could feel dark energy flowing through him like a running waterfall, as the large, unknown hall was filled with dark influence.

During his deep focus, he could hear sounds of footsteps going up the stairway leading to the deepest part of the room. He continued to focus until the footsteps stopped, and a presence was felt.

Lifting his head up, on the other side of the cauldron, there stood a single man wearing Chinese clothing with his arms crossed behind his back. The glasses-wearing man bowed to the hooded man in salute.

"… You have returned." spoke the hooded man.

"Indeed I have… Lord 'Reaper'." replied Taishi, as he called the cloaked individual by a pseudonym chosen by the latter.

"… And your experiment?"

"A satisfactory result." Taishi smirked. "The power to summon the creatures of darkness known as Kaos is fascinating. The fact that they can steal souls and convert them into their numbers piqued this profound knowledge of mine. Such a wonderful power granted to me by an unknown force… And yet, there is still more to be discovered from this power of the Dark Arts."

"… I see." The cloaked figure named Reaper nodded, as it was clear that Taishi was immensely satisfied with what he had discovered.

"… You knew, didn't you?" The trident wielder asked. Reaper merely looked at the man through the large blue flame sitting on the cauldron. Taishi then elaborated. "When you suggested that I perform my experiment on an unremarkable town such as Toad Town, I was left wondering why you specified it as such, even as I revelled in this newly-discovered power of mine. But now, I know why."

"… And what answer have you come up with?"

"There is this man who appeared in the middle of the Kaos invasion. He is known as Mario, who is hailed as a hero of Mushroom Kingdom for his exploits, however insignificant they may be. When I first heard of him, I deemed him to be a simpleton like the rest of the creatures living in that small kingdom."

Reaper remained silent, as he let the spiky-haired man speak in detail about the man that he encountered.

"However, when I first encountered him… He possesses something that I could not believe exist. A weapon capable of vanquishing Kaos and Darkness, of purifying lost souls with the power of light."

"… And that is?"

"The legendary Spirit Sword… Soul Calibur."

With Taishi's words, the hooded man was able to confirm one thing about the man that he had encountered two months ago. "… So it is true. This Mario has been chosen by the Spirit Sword, to wield its power of purification. I felt a strange, but familiar power hidden within him when I entered the capital two months ago."

"And that is precisely why you sent me to that town: to verify if he has that power, correct?" Taishi asked. He received a nod as a response from Reaper. "Who would have thought that an inferior man such as him has been chosen by the legendary Soul Calibur, the sword that threatens to prevent us from accomplishing our goals? However, it seems that the man has yet to unleash its power properly, from how we fought against one another."

"But it still remains that he now has that power. The power to eliminate darkness."

"Indeed." Taishi agreed. His smile widened when he realized what it all meant. "The legend of the two Soul Blades… It turns out to be true after all. Which also explains exactly what you are accomplishing here, Lord Reaper. Would you care to explain to a man hungry for more knowledge such as I?"

The hooded man stared at him for a brief moment before he slowly stood up from his sitting position. "… You know of the legend of the two swords, correct?"

"Yes, I do." Taishi replied.

"And you know that the final clash between the two swords caused them to disappear from the world, leading to the end of the great war?"

"Yes. I also know that, according to the legend, that this world that we live in right now is the byproduct of the final clash centuries ago."

Reaper nodded. "Ever since their final clash, the two swords have disappeared from this world for many centuries, and as a consequence, the people of today no longer believe that the two swords actually exist in history. It is only recently that one of the swords, Soul Calibur, rematerialized in the hands of one man. But what if I told you… that the other sword had already reappeared mere decades after the final clash?"

"Ohh. Fascinating. Do tell."

"There existed an organization known as the Ancient Order of Souls, created during the great war that gave birth to the Soul Blades. Their objective is to pacify man's aggression, to eliminate war born from the sins of man. After the great war, the Order became the mediator between men to avoid a potential war, and to purify the corruption caused by the desire for power. The Order was also the first to become aware of the sword's return decades after the war."

"Fearing that the sword's presence would lead to a return to the dark age, they sought to seize the sword immediately, and to isolate it within the depths of their premises, under their constant watch. However, the sword's influence became too powerful to contain, and some members of the order succumbed to its madness, becoming corrupted. What resulted was a bloody war within the Order where a too great number of lives have been lost in the process."

"Once it became known that the sword is too dangerous to be exposed in the mortal realm, they sought to seal it away completely, using the most powerful sorcery that they had in their disposal. Seven powerful mages were tasked in sealing it away, each performing incredible magic to contain the sword, its power and its influence in a single, isolated area. They sacrificed their own souls to ensure that the sword would be locked away for all eternity, never to be rediscovered by the public."

Reaper pulled out a crystal from under his hood, showing it to the trident user. "This is the Soul Crystal, the physical manifestation of the mage's soul. There are seven in total, and the Order had spread them out across the world a long time ago, hidden away from the public eye."

"I see…" Taishi spoke, as he examined the crystal that Reaper was holding in his hand. "The Seven Soul Crystals… They are keys used to seal away the sword… But they are also necessary to release it from its shackles." He then looked back up to the hooded figure. "… And as to the location of the sword?"

"… It is right in front of you." Reaper replied, as he turned around to face the back of the dark hall.

As if on cue, several individual blue flames started to manifest, one after the other, around the wall. With each blue flame being illuminated, they slowly reveal something hidden within the shadows of the large wall. It was a large, ancient gate with ancient graving containing mystical symbols and imagery, of an era that went back many centuries from the present.

"… I am sure that you know what lies beyond this gate, do you?" Reaper asked as he turned his head back towards Taishi. The glasses-wearing man smiled and nodded in response, as he already had a good idea on what it was. "When the Seven Soul Crystals are collected, they will open the gate leading to the chamber where the sword resided." Reaper explained, as he turned his head back in front, looking at the immense gate.

"And the sword in question… is the Accursed Sword itself. Soul Edge."

"Amazing…" Taishi expressed his astonishment, as he stared down at his hands that were used to conjure up his newly-discovered power. "To think that the dark power granted to us, the power to summon darkness, belonged to the Accursed Sword itself… That would explain why this gigantic hall that we are standing on is filled with darkness, fuelling our very being…!"

"And now, you know of my objective. Even after all of that, do you still wish to aid me in releasing Soul Edge from its binds?"

"Yes. Verily." Taishi replied. "And from what I understand, we have already collected two Soul Crystals in our possession, correct? That means that only five are left to discover in this vast world."

"That is correct." Reaper nodded.

"Though, if I may ask," Taishi said, as they began to speak of the circumstances behind the second Soul Crystal in their possession. "… Why did you choose to imprison Princess Peach Toadstool? Do you not realize that she is becoming an obstacle impeding our goal by having the Soul Crystal embedded deep within her soul?"

"I am aware." Reaper replied as he turned himself back towards the trident user. "There exists a ritual that serves to extract the Soul Crystal from a person's soul. It takes a considerable amount of time before the preparation is complete. Until then, she is to be imprisoned and cared for."

"May I suggest a better alternative? Why don't we just kill her?"

All Taishi received was silence from the hooded man, as the latter looked at him as if he was suggesting the impossible. Closing his eyes, Taishi explained himself. "Let me explain my hypothesis. The Soul Crystal rests inside of the Princess' soul, correct? And Kaos is created to steal souls, am I wrong? If we use Kaos specifically to steal her soul, then surely, after a bit of time and research, we will be able to obtain the Soul Crystal from her soul without the need to waste precious time and power. As it stands, Princess Peach is but an insect that needs to be squashed for the sake of our goals."

Taishi slowly opened his eyes as he finished his explanation. But he was caught by surprise when the cloaked man appeared directly in front of him, glaring at him under the hood as he asserted an overwhelming power over the glasses-wearing man. Even though his face was obscured by the shadow of his hood, the sight of his face having a burnt scar over the left side, as well as the affected, blank left eye, felt visible to Taishi. For the first time in a while, he felt fear.

"… I want her alive." Reaper stated in a commanding tone. "if I discover that the Princess is harmed in any way possible, especially if it leads to her passing, I will make sure to come after you and place your search for knowledge to a halt. Permanently. Do I make myself clear?"

Taishi was unable to speak out any words, as he still felt overwhelmed by that cloaked man's commanding presence. He instead took a couple of steps back and nodded in understanding.

When it seemed that glasses-wearing man understood, Reaper turned back around to the burning cauldron. "… From my understanding, you have exhausted yourself during your expedition, yes?"

"T… That is correct." Taishi replied, in the process of recovering from what had occurred between the two of them, as he ran his hand over the crack mark on the left side of his face. "I had forgotten how much time has passed since then. For that, I must replenish myself."

"Very well. You are hereby dismissed." The hooded man stated, as he raised his hand up as a sign to his subordinate. "And once you have recovered, your next task will be to search for the remaining Soul Crystals. Alongside your small organization."

"Understood." Taishi made a final bow to Reaper, before he turned himself around and began to descend down the stairs, leaving the hooded man alone up in the deep part of the dark area.

Reaper was left alone to contemplate what he had learned from the report given to him by the trident user. "… So Soul Calibur has finally reappeared, after many centuries have passed. Just as we are making progress in releasing Soul Edge from its seal." He then gazed up at the large gate in front of him, which housed the Accursed Sword in the chamber beyond.

"… History will soon repeat itself. It must be fate that the two Soul Blades will face each other in combat once more…"

_ End of Chapter _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! It's Anomynous Nin! Here with a new chapter of my gigantic story yet! As I've mentioned before, I will only put Author's Notes on some chapters of the story instead of all of them in order to talk about some behind-the-scenes stuff about the story. And this chapter is one of them! If this interests you, then feel free to read on, my friends! Let's get started!
> 
> First off, I want to talk about Kaos, the monsters of darkness introduced in the previous chapter. Remember how I mentioned the story initially contained elements from Kingdom Hearts, but I changed it to something inspired by it? Well, this is it. Kaos is inspired by Heartless from that series. And the reason why I'm talking about it here is because from this point forward, I will list and describe each Kaos monster that is first introduced in the chapter, just so that you guys won't get too mixed up about which monster is which. So here it is:
> 
> Kaos Peon: Lesser creatures of Kaos that serve Soul Edge and its servants, born from very weak souls consumed by darkness. They are small, mouse-like creatures whose bodies are entirely black in colour and whose limbs resembled a single spike. They also have two antennas as ears, and the mark of Soul Edge rests on its forehead. Alone, a Peon is weak in strength, and anyone can easily take care of it. But as a group, they are a force to be reckoned with.
> 
> Kaos Trooper: A slightly stronger creature of Kaos than a Peon, born from souls that are slightly more powerful. They take on a form of small, humanoid beings wearing a knight helmet with a V-shaped hole for their eyes, a pair of gauntlets with spiked fingertips, and a dark purple suit bearing the mark of Soul Edge on the chest area. They are as strong as an average person, and they excelled in unorthodox movement and frantic attacks.
> 
> Second, I have a piece of trivia for everybody who's been reading most, if not all of my stories for a long time. I want to talk about one of the original villain characters, Taishi Yang. If you guys felt like you've read about him before, that's because he's been in another one of my stories before, and I pretty much recycled him from that story to this one, albeit more fleshed out than before. If you wanna know where the character originated from which story, I'll give you a hint. That story shared one thing in common with this one.
> 
> And with that, that's all I have with the behind-the-scene stuff! Thank you all for reading this chapter! Feel free to leave a review here for all to see! See you all next time!


	5. New Journey Begins

_Darkness. When he first awakened, he was met with the sight of complete darkness. Surrounding him was nothing but darkness as far as the eye can see. Even as he paced himself forward for what seemed to be hours and hours, all he ever encountered so far was pure darkness. There was nothing else. Not a thing in sight…_

_Mario had no idea why he ended up in an empty realm shrouded in darkness. His first instinct, upon awakening in such a hollow place was to walk forward. And to continue walking no matter how long time has passed, and how far he had travelled. Since then, he had only travelled in one direction through the desolated place._

_It almost felt like all of his senses were going numb from the prolonged journey. His eyes registered nothing but darkness. His movements became so constant that it almost felt like his body was doing nothing at all. Even as he kept breathing, it felt like he was not breathing at all._

_But for the first time since the start of his journey into the deep unknown, his eyes detected the first thing in the pitch blackness of the realm, from up above. It seemed to be some sort of a shooting star, falling down towards the hollow ground that he was standing on, leaving a trail of star particles in its path._

_The star eventually crashed in a short distance away from the red plumber, turning into several small particles that spread apart. Then, the tiny particles all moved back together to form a tall, oval-shaped object that glowed within the darkness for the first time. The glowing oval-shaped object then started to take on a more distinct form that almost resembled a human…_

_Mario widened his eyes when he realized what he was looking at. Appearing before him was Princess Peach herself, with her long blond hair, her gold crown, and her familiar pink dress. She materialized from the star particles, with her eyes closed and her hands clasping with each other near her chest. He could not believe what he was seeing._

_"Peach…?" Mario called her out by name, unsure if she was an illusion or not._

_The Pink Princess opened her eyes and, upon seeing a familiar man with the red cap and the blue overalls, she gasped with surprise. "… Mario?"_

_Her sweet, sincere voice was the same. Even though part of him still believed that she was just an illusion, something to fool him, he could not help but smile happily upon seeing his beloved Princess again. "It's… It's really you, isn't it?"_

_Peach began to tear up, as if it was the first time in a long while that she had seen her dear hero again. "You're here…!"_

_Mario did not hesitate to quickly approach her out of joy. But as soon as he took the first step, a powerful gust of wind, made up of darkness, suddenly blew in his way, stopping him from his tracks. The red plumber reacted by guarding his face with his arms against the mysterious wind._

_The Pink Princess turned around to see what was causing the gust of wind in the first place. She gasped in horror, as if she knew exactly what was causing it. When she turned back towards her hero, she attempted to extend her hand out to him._

_Only for several hands of shadow to appear behind her and claim her body. She screamed in fear from being grabbed by the shadow hands._

_"Princess Peach!" Mario yelled out to her, as he started to run towards the captive Princess, pushing himself through the wicked wind. But his attempt of getting close to her resulted in the distance between them increasing more and more._

_Peach struggled to break herself free from the shadow hands, but as soon as one hand was slipped off of her, more emerged themselves from the darkness to restrain her even more. The tearful Princess could only reach her hand out to her hero in vain, as the shadow hands threatened to return her to darkness. "MARIO! HELP ME!"_

_"PEACH!" Mario cried out to her, reaching his own hand out to her in a vain attempt, as both of them became more and more separated, as decided by cruel fate…_

_… It was then that a spark of light suddenly appeared in front of him. What happened next was an explosion of white light that engulfed the moustachioed man and the dark area around him._

_When his sights were no longer blinded by the bright light, Mario found himself in an area that was the complete opposite of where he was before. Instead of a dark, hollow realm that obscured the senses, it was realm filled with light, with the atmosphere feeling lighter in the process._

_The red plumber, however, was not concerned about where he was currently. He frantically looked at his surroundings to try and find the captured Princess, but not single glimpse of her was detected. He felt a loss of hope, when he realized that he failed to save her once again…_

_**"Your soul…"** Mario suddenly heard a voice. A female, angelic voice was calling out to him. He looked around himself once more to see where the voice was coming from. But all he could see was light._

_**"Your kind and valiant soul… I can feel it…."** There was that angelic voice again. Mario still had no idea where it was coming from. " **I can feel your desire to save the one who is precious to you…"**_

_"Who… Who's there?" Mario asked the mysterious voice._

**_"Darkness threatens to engulf the world filled with life, to disrupt the order bestowed upon it…" The voice continued, seemingly ignoring the plumber's question. "If Darkness is not vanquished, soon, all life in this world will be consumed… There will be no future when Darkness conquers…"_ **

_"Darkness…" Mario whispered, believing that it referred to the Kaos monsters, and the people responsible for the misery of his home._

**_"Your soul, full of light, has the power to purify the Darkness, to vanquish its evil… It is the key to maintain order in this world on the verge of ruin…"_ **

_Mario then saw something materializing in front of him, within the bright realm of light. He soon recognized that the object appearing before him was the crystal sword in all of its divine form, its crystal orb emitting light directly at his being._

_**"You have been chosen…"** The angelic voice continued. **"To wield my power of purification… To bring about absolute order… Use this blade to save the one who is precious to you…"**_

_The power of purification… The power to save Princess Peach… It became more clear to the red-capped hero that the crystal sword was no ordinary sword, and that it appeared in his hands for a reason. If the sword could help him rescue the captive Princess and defeat the ones responsible for bringing evil upon his home kingdom, then it was an offer that he would gladly take._

_Full of conviction, he reached his hand out to the mystical sword, and grasped its hilt. Then, bright light once again blinded his sights, and engulfed his entire being…_

* * *

Mario's eyes were wide opened, as he woke up from his strange dream. When he came too, he found himself looking at the ceiling of his house, lying on his bed in his red, striped pyjamas and a sleeping cap on his head. To his right, his brother, Luigi, was sleeping soundly in his own sleeping wear on his own bed, no doubt having a good dream compared to the older brother.

Mario sat up from his bed as he recalled what happened in that strange dream of his. Even though it was a dream, it felt very real. His encounter with Peach, his attempt to rescue her, the female angelic voice suddenly calling out to him, and their exact words to him…

**"You have been chosen to wield my power of purification. To bring about absolute order. Use this blade to save the one who is precious to you…"**

The words kept repeating in his head over and over. What did the voice meant by him being chosen? To wield their power? Eventually, all of his thoughts led to him looking over the mysterious sword from the previous day.

The sword was resting on the railing to his left. Mario examined its mystical form, as he attempted to understand the significance of it, and of how it got in his possession during his most dire moments. Was it a coincidence? Or was it fate that he possessed such a strange weapon back then?

But at the very least, what he could understand… was that the crystal sword may be the tool required to rescue Princess Peach.

With all of those thoughts spiralling in his head and preventing him from returning to sleep, the red plumber decided to change out of his pyjamas for his usual red and blue attire, and he exited the house with the sword in his hand.

It was still very early in the morning, with the stars still blinking in the night sky, when the red-capped hero stood in the middle of the front yard. His eyes analyzed the sword in hand once again, as he still tried to understand its significance, and why he was chosen to wield it. He raised the blade high up in the sky, trying to bring out its power from last time. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.

He then resorted to swing it vertically downward. Then, he performed a downward diagonal slash to the left. Then one to the right. He then proceeded to perform a few slashes at the empty air from any direction, aiming to become familiar with moving the weapon around for a brief moment. Finally, he rotated himself around before throwing a strong, horizontal slash at the air, creating wind that blew out the grass beneath his feet as a result.

The red plumber then moved the sword in front of him once again, examining its form yet again. He then rested his forehead against the flat side of the blade, as he reflected on the events leading to where he was now.

He remembered feeling powerless against the man with the scar on his face, unable to protect Peach from his clutches. He blamed himself for not being strong enough to stop that enigmatic man. And during the previous day, even when he obtained the sword to destroy Kaos, against a man like Taishi, he was easily outmatched until he suddenly unleashed a power that he did not know how to awaken.

Frustration filled his whole being, as he felt weak against new, powerful foes. How could he call himself the Hero of Mushroom Kingdom if he was unable to defeat the Princess' captors? But then, he recalled what the voice said to him in his dream.

**"Use this blade to save the one who is precious to you…"**

If that was true, and it was not just a dream, then maybe, just maybe he could grow stronger, strong enough to defeat his mysterious foes and rescue Princess Peach. With the sword in his hand, it could help him obtain more strength. Perhaps it was fate after all.

A ray of light shined over his face, as he shielded his eyes from it with his hand. Peeking through his fingers, he noticed that the Sun was rising from the horizon, illuminating the night sky with its rays of light before it began to shine over the land of Mushroom Kingdom.

At the break of dawn, Mario had made his decision.

* * *

Consciousness had returned to an individual. Awakened from slumber, a pair of eyes slowly opened. They started to look around their surroundings, in spite of their vision blurred from just being returned from sleep. Recollecting what had just occurred, a single thought passed through the mind.

"… Mario…?" A single name was murmured out by Princess Peach Toadstool.

She vaguely recalled being inside of a dark place, her surroundings obscured by darkness. She could see nothing. She could hear nothing. She could feel nothing. Her first move was to walk forward endlessly, into the hollow area.

It was not until a shooting star appeared amidst the darkness, fell in front of her and took on a form. That of her beloved hero, Mario. She remembered being in tears and overwhelmingly happy to see him again. But before she could act, a powerful gust of wind was blowing behind her, and severals hands took a hold of her, pulling her deeper into darkness. All she could do was to reach out to her hero and screamed for him to save her…

When her vision became clear, she realized that she had returned to reality, awakened from her dream that felt real.

She was trapped inside of a large crystal that served as her prison, her arms spread apart and bound by magic. The crystal prison was floating high up above a large pit, void of any depth, inside of a chamber surrounded by concrete walls. The atmosphere was shallow, and there was little to no light present in the room save for the glowing crystal prison.

"… I wonder… how much time has passed since then…" Peach asked herself, the concept of time being lost to her due to being imprisoned like that for a long period of time. She closed her eyes as there was no telling how much longer she would be held captive like that.

"… So, you have come to, Princess Peach." Her eyes opened once again, as she heard a female voice coming from behind her, but she could not turn her head enough to see who it was.

A colony of bats flew from behind the crystal prison. The Princess watched as numerous of bats flapped their wings around her, screeching, and filled the atmosphere of the dark chamber with their terrifying presence. Then, they all gathered near the edge of the deep pit on solid floor, all forming a relatively tall shape together.

The bats soon merged together, from bottom to top, to take on a human form. Standing on solid ground was a mature woman with very pale skin, long silver hair that stopped at her waist, with bangs swept to her right side, and a pair of blood red eyes. She wore a pair of black, leather high heel boots, black leather skirt that stopped above her knees, a pair of leather cuffs around her wrists, and a black leather crop top with straps crossing at her back and a hole in the shape of a heart showing her cleavage.

The red-eyed woman looked up at the Princess in her prison with a grin, showing off her two large fangs. "… And just in time as well, I see."

"You're… Valeria Vladimir…" said Peach, recognizing the woman standing before her after meeting her a few times already.

"Ohh! You remember my name! How wonderful…" Valeria Vladimir chuckled, slightly impressed that the Princess was able to remember her name after so long. "Truly, this is a sign that we are slowly getting acquainted, you and I. Hehehe…"

Peach said nothing, opting to glare at one of her captors before turning her gaze away.

"You still remain silent even after all that we've been though? My, truly, you have a defiant attitude, Princess…" said the amused Valeria, as she started to pace herself around the bottomless hole slowly, keeping her blood red eyes on the crystal prison. "Do not hold it against us, Princess. We simply desire to obtain the Soul Crystal resting inside of your soul. Otherwise, we would not have come after you in the first place… Perhaps."

Peach's lips remained sealed, still looking away from the vampire woman.

"You should be grateful instead of being resentful." The silver-haired woman added. "Under different circumstances, your life would have long expired to further our goals, and we would have obtained the Soul Crystal inside of you long ago. Many of our associates and I desired for you to be killed in order to acquire what we want. And with the power of Kaos, this is made possible for us."

Valeria continued to walk around the prison, past the point in which she was located directly behind it. "But Lord Reaper is more benevolent. He insisted that you should be kept alive until preparations for the extraction ritual are complete. And I know not to stand against his orders, as frustrating as they may be. So I believe that you owe him your life. For without him, you would have been gone from this mortal coil a long time ago."

Peach listened to the red-eyed vampire's words, but still refused to utter a single word to her or to glance at her way once.

"Tch!" Valeria scoffed as she was unsuccessful in having the Princess acknowledge her, just as she returned to the starting point of her stroll. "Still nothing out of you? Truly defiant, but annoying you are, Princess." she said. Even though she failed to get her attention, she had another plan, as there was a reason why she came to visit her. A wicked smile appeared on her lips. "Perhaps this will grab your attention."

Peach's stance remained firm in the face of her captor. But Valeria was certain that the news that she was about to deliver would break her resolve. "One of our associates had recently took a visit to a small town. Perhaps you are familiar with it? It is a capital town called… Toad Town, of Mushroom Kingdom."

The Pink Princess quickly turned her gaze back towards the red-eyed vampire, her face full of horror upon hearing a very familiar name. "What…?! Toad Town…?!"

Valeria smirked. "As expected…"

"No…! It can't be…!" The distressed Princess thrusted her body forward, the restraints on her arms preventing her from breaking free of her crystal prison and moving to confront the silver-haired woman. "What…! What did you do to Toad Town?! To my people?!"

"An experiment was simply conducted there." Valeria replied, amused by Peach's panic-stricken reaction. "Our associate wished to satisfy his curiosity by unleashing the power to summon Kaos upon the capital, to see exactly how they function towards their prey. What resulted is a capital in a brink of destruction, and quite a few loss of inferior lives…"

Peach gasped in horror, as she helplessly listened to what the vampire woman was describing to her about what had happened in the capital while she was imprisoned. "No…! You… You monsters! How could you?!" she yelled, struggling to break herself free from her magic prison to no avail.

Valeria laughed as she watched the horrified Princess struggling in her restraints. It had been quite some time that she got such a wonderful reaction out of her. Although she desired to see more of it, Valeria was feeling generous, so she decided to alleviate her prisoner's distress just once. "Perhaps you would like to hear the good news, then?" she asked. "Unfortunately, the experiment was interrupted, by the arrival of a single man."

"A man…?" Peach said, as she stopped struggling for a moment.

"This mere man managed to stop the Kaos invasion and wound our associate, possessing a power that betrayed our expectations. I believe his name to be… Mario? Hero of Mushroom Kingdom, from what I've been told?"

Peach gasped upon hearing Mario's name. "Mario… protected Toad Town…?" Her horrified expression was replaced with that of relief, as a smile appeared on her lips fro hearing of Mario's further feats. "Oh Mario…! He's alright…! Oh, thank the heavens…!"

"Hmph." Valeria scowled, as the Princess was no longer in distress, though it was to be expected. "So you are acquainted with him, then?" She received no response from the relieved Princess. "It's understandable. Your 'hero' protected your beloved home from further danger. It is only natural that to feel grateful for his heroism."

Peach continued to smile at the thought of Mario being safe and sound, and of him being able to protect the capital against all odds. It led her to believe that even in the face of a powerful enemy, there was nothing that he could not do to achieve his goals. For the first time in a long while, she felt hope.

It was there that Valeria decided to break her hope by informing her of what they had in store for her hero. "Yes, keep feeling hopeful for your hero… For we have plans to eradicate him from the living." Her threats certainly attracted Peach's attention back to her.

The silver-haired vampire turned her back to her, as she continued. "According to our associate's report, this Mario has obtained a power that threatens to destroy the very foundation of our mission. If he is left alone, there will be no doubt that he will become a danger to us all. All members involved are being informed of him, and our primary task, upon first encountering him, is to eliminate him on the spot. As of now, your hero's very life is in constant peril."

Valeria laughed as she imagined what kind of reaction she would get out of Peach upon hearing of Mario's definite demise. "Oh, Princess! I cannot wait to see you void of all hope in an instant! That is what I like about all of my victims! To see them filled with hope, only for that to be snatched away from them at the cruellest possible moment, before I devour them! Hahahahaha!"

"… Mario will save me."

"… Hm?" Valeria turned her head back towards Peach, who had her gaze aimed straight down.

"I know he will… Mario will definitely rescue me, just as he always have for so many years. And he… he will put a stop to your vile ways."

"… Is that so?" The vampire asked, as she turned back around to face the imprisoned Princess.

"I've known Mario for 30 long years. I've seen what he can do, and I've witnessed the lengths that he is willing to go to rescue me, his precious princess. You've never known him for as long as I have… And I believe you to be unwise to underestimate him!"

"Me? Unwise?" Valeria repeated what the Princess said about her, her anger slowly rising upon watching an act of defiance from her.

Peach raised her head back up, as she stared down at her captor, her face full of determination and void of any fear. "Mario is willing to travel across any land, both familiar and not, across the desert, mountains, sea, the sky, across countless galaxies… All to ensure my safety and to put a stop to evildoers such as yourselves! He will stop at nothing to see you fail!"

Valeria glared at the Princess as she spouted at those words at her with such confidence. To say that she was feeling angry would be an understatement. As of that moment, seeing the Princess brought nothing but disgust to her.

The vampire slowly levitated herself off the floor, as she moved herself up in the air and approached the Princess, until she was positioned directly in front of her. Her cold eyes clashed with Peach's own, determined eyes, each trying to make the other falter.

"… Do you honestly believe that a mere mortal, ignorant of the dangers of the outside world, can defeat the likes of us? Demons from the netherworld?" Valeria asked.

"… I do." Peach replied.

The two of them continued to stare at each other intensively. Then, Valeria smirked. "Hmph. Interesting." she said, as she flew away from the imprisoned Princess slightly. "Fine. I will humour you. I will allow you to keep believing in your beloved hero. Then we shall see what happens next."

With her final words spoken, the vampire woman turned herself back into a colony of bats that spread out, flapped their wings and flew high in the air, leaving the cold, dark chamber.

With the vampire gone, Peach let out a sigh of relief, feeling a bit exhausted from putting on a brave face in front of one of her kidnappers. From their conversations, she learned that Mario was safe, and was able to protect Toad Town from the likes of mysterious foes such as Valeria. It gave her hope that soon, whether it's in days, months or even years, Mario would be able to accomplish what he was set out to do.

"Oh Mario…" She lowered her head, as she closed her eyes. "I pray that you'll be safe from harm's way… I beg of you… Please save me, just as you have for over 30 years… And put a stop to their evil goals…" All Peach could do was to pray for the safety of her beloved hero…

… As the right half of the golden, star-shaped pendant hanged around her neck.

* * *

"YOU STUPID, DISOBEDIENT BRATS!"

The Koopa King stomped his foot against the cemented bricks so hard that the majority of the throne room shook as a result. The four Koopalings at fault flinched in fear, as they were down to their knees and at the mercy of their king.

Standing near the throne, Bowser was seething mad at his four underlings, as flames were escaping out through his gritted fangs. Nothing could describe the Koopa King's anger upon discovering what Ludwig, Morton, Iggy and Wendy were up to when he was not looking.

Standing beside him were Kamek and his son, Junior, who was snickering at the Koopalings who were being punished, his hands pressed against his snout to suppress his laughter. And standing right behind him were the three remaining Koopalings.

"Who gave you permission to use my minions?!" Bowser growled. "And right under my nose, even! Did you know how much you stupid brats cost me?!"

"W-w-whoa there, Lord Bowser…!" Iggy stuttered, attempting to calm the Koopa King down and make him ease up on them. "D-don't be mad at us, okay? We were just having a little bit of fun, that's all…"

Bowser stomped his foot against the bricks once more, causing Iggy to cower in fear. "FUN?! Exactly what you find any of this fun?! Because of you brats, not only did we lost valuable resources, but we also lost some of our soldiers! Do you know how hard it is to find loyal subjects?!"

"Hehehehehe…!" Junior snickered, as he approached the four Koopalings. "You guys are in for it now! Once you get into Papa's bad side, you'll never hear the end of it! You guys are morons for going against his command!"

Ludwig growled at the King's son. "Oh shut it, you pampered daddy's boy! It's not like you did anything worth while that can help us in the long run! You've been sitting in your crib, sucking on your thumbs, while you blindly follow Lord Bowser's idiotic orders!"

"Care to repeat that to my face, you little twat?!" asked the irritated Koopa King.

"You heard me!" Ludwig shouted defiantly, as he stood up against Bowser. "What you're doing is a waste of time! We've been given the chance to conquer this kingdom rendered vulnerable from the Princess' kidnapping, but you've been spending all this time trying to find her instead for months! I've been trying to do what we've sought out for for several, painstakingly long years! And you called yourself a king, you blind fool?!"

Bowser let out a vicious roar at the air, as he spouted out ferocious flames from his snout. The sight of it was enough for Ludwig to back off and kneel back down on the floor, intimidated by the Koopa King's rage. "Don't you DARE telling me what I should and shouldn't do! My orders are absolute! And you're simply asking for a world of pain for standing up against me, Ludwig von Koopa!"

Ludwig could only whimper in response, his resolve easily shattered by Bowser's fierce presence. Bowser then turned his attention to the three other Koopalings at the elder sibling's side. "And you guys tagged along in this idiot's plans?! What, are you asking for trouble or something?!"

"N-no, my Lord…!" Wendy shook her head in reply. "I just want to show everyone my wondrous beauty, how worthy I am of being called their new princess compared to that hideous Peach…!"

"Morton crush puny heads…" Morton answered.

"I just wanna have some fun, that's all!" Iggy chuckled nervously in his turn. "I mean, you've gotta admit, being cooped up in this dank castle is really boring! And you've gotta give it to Ludwig, invading and robbing a bunch of towns and villages was a lot of fun! Hehehehehe…"

"Aw man!" shouted one of the Koopalings behind Bowser, as he hopped his way towards Iggy. That particular Koopaling has a relatively large, green head with a multicoloured mohawk and two orange bars on each side of his head, on top of sharing the same yellow and tan skin as the rest of his siblings. He wore an orange shell with multiple spikes across the surface, as well as a pair of spiked, metal cuffs around his wrists. That child-like Koopaling's large eyes were always crossed each time somebody saw him.

"You guys were having fun scaring those people without me? No fair! I wanted to go too!" complained Lemmy Koopa, as he constantly hopped around and never seemed to stay still.

"Haha! Don't worry, little guy!" reassured Iggy. "We'll make sure to bring you with us next time! And next time, we'll terrorize those pipsqueaks with your favourite bouncing balls of doom!"

"Yeah!" Lemmy exclaimed, as both he and Iggy threw a high-five with each other.

"Hmrph…" The Koopaling with the blue, spiky, combed back hair pouted, as he crossed his arms in disappointment. The blue-eyed sibling shared the same skin as the rest of his siblings, as well as having a green head with a blue star marked on the side of it. He wore a blue shell with spike protruding all over the surface and a pair of metal, spiked cuffs on his wrists. "I wanted to go too…" said Larry Koopa.

"Don't sweat it, dude!" said the pink sunglasses-wearing Koopaling, as he patted his brother on his back. That Koopaling has a pink head and yellow, tan skin complexion like everyone else in the family. He wore a purple shell with spikes across the surface, a pair of metal, spiked cuffs, and the aforementioned pink, cat-eyed sunglasses. "I didn't get invited either, and I'm cool with it! Though, I do wanna smash some heads in when I get a chance…" said Roy Koopa, as he threw a fist in his open palm.

"HEY!" Bowser growled at everyone around him. "I'm not done here! Save your worthless chitchat for later!" Junior, Lemmy, Larry and Roy all scurried back to the Koopa King's side, as he glared at Ludwig, Iggy, Morton and Wendy once more. "You all caused a whole lot of trouble to me with your blunder! It's time I show you the meaning of pain!"

The four Koopalings trembled at his mercy, as they prepared themselves for the worse to come for them. It was then that Kamek stepped in. "Your Grouchiness, if I may. Although we have lost a considerable amount of firepower in the process, these children did brought back valuable wealth during their expedition. I believe it is best to alleviate them of their punishment for the time being, don't you think?"

The frustrated Bowser shifted his gaze towards the Magikoopa, upon hearing his suggestions. Then, he shifted his gaze back at the Koopalings. Then back at Kamek. Then back at the Koopalings. "… Hmph! Whatever!" he said, having decided to listen to Kamek for once, as he turned around and marched back towards his throne. Ludwig, Iggy, Wendy and Morton all sighed of relief.

"Still, this is quite concerning." Kamek spoke, as he considered the information given to them by the Koopalings. "Only two months after the Princess' kidnapping, strange, black monsters have suddenly appeared in the capital. And they seem capable of stealing people's souls, based on the reports. I fear that they may appear here in your castle next, my Lord."

"Big deal!" the Koopa King replied, as he sat down on his throne. "Those critters haven't met the likes of me! If they're gonna attack here next, I'll burn them to a crisp, every single one of them! And wait 'til I finally get my claws on that guy with the stupid cloak! He'll rue the day that he ever crossed me by stealing away Princess Peach before I can!"

"Haha! You said it, Papa!" Junior said. "There's nobody in the world who can beat you! Not even Mario stands a chance against you!"

"Well said, Junior!" praised Bowser as he patted his son's head. "Now then, we're done with all these shenanigans, right? Because it's time for us to focus on what's important! Kamek! Send out our troops across the kingdom to find Princess Peach! Nobody is stopping until she's within my grasp!"

"You've gotta be kidding me…!" Ludwig muttered in disbelief, as he witnessed the Koopa King giving out the same command since two months ago, having not learned a lesson since then.

Before anybody had a chance to execute each of their roles, the Koopa guards standing near the gate of the throne room made their announcement to everyone present. "Lord Bowser, sir! Kammy Koopa has arrived!"

Everyone turned their attention towards the steel gate, as the guards slowly opened it. Standing behind the gate was a female, elderly Magikoopa with white hair. She wore a dark purple robe, a dark purple hat with a brim, and a pair of small, oval-shaped glasses. She was known as Kammy Koopa, the right-hand woman of Bowser.

"Your Grumpiness!" announced Kammy with her hands place behind her back. "I have returned!" She then started walking into the throne room, as she made her way towards the Koopa King… Rather slowly.

Bowser remained seated on his throne as he watched the female Magikoopa approaching him slowly. Everyone else all remained at their spots as they joined their King in watching the approaching right-hand woman.

Kammy continued to pace herself forward.

Bowser began to tap his fingers on the armchair, as he waited for her to come.

Kammy's walk remained ongoing.

Junior sat down on the floor, as he got tired of standing around for a while. The Koopalings all decided to gather around to share what they knew in the meantime. The rest of the guards remained stationary in their positions.

She still had not reached the halfway point…

Bowser's patience was wearing thin, as he rested his chin on his palm, his fingers continuing to tap on the armchair in a faster rhythm.

Finally, after about 5 minutes, Kammy reached the Koopa King. By the end of her walk, she was panting heavily, as she bent her knees down and placed her hands on her thighs in an attempt to catch her breath. "Hah…! Hah…! Oh dear…! I knew I should have brought my broom along…!"

"What took you so long?!" asked Bowser, as it had been a long while since he had seen the female Magikoopa around. "Where the heck were you when we invaded Princess Peach's castle during the 30th Anniversary?!"

"Hah…! My apologies, my Lord…!" Kammy panted. "I was visiting a blood relative of mine during that time. You know how rare it is for me to ever spend time with a family member. Our time together lasted a bit over two months, to be exact."

"I don't remember giving you a vacation."

Kamek scoffed at Kammy. "Heh! And you called yourself a loyal Magikoopa? While you were off vacationing with a family member, if you even have one, we were working our tails off to help our King succeed! You bring shame to our kind for taking a leave right when Lord Bowser requires our full aid the most!"

"And yet, I have heard nothing of your success while I was gone, is there?" Kammy asked Kamek. "It seems to me that, without my involvement, you were not able to do anything that benefited our King. So I believe that it is you who brought shame to our kind, you pathetic excuse of a Magikoopa."

"Oh, you shall pay for spouting such nonsense to me!" Kamek yelled as he approached the female Magikoopa, growled at her and threw an intense glare at her. Kammy countered it with her own growl and glare.

"Oh sweet! Old people brawl!" Iggy cheered, as he and all of his siblings, as well as Junior, all gathered around the two Magikoopas and cheered them on in what might be the epic duel of their entire lives.

"Ok, back off! All of you!" Bowser exclaimed, stomping his foot down to make the children scurry away and the two Magikoopas stand firmly before him. "As much as an old people brawl sounds awesome, we got more important things to take care off! So no arguing with one another until we've found the Princess, you hear?!"

"As you command, your Awfulness!" said Kamek.

"And Kammy! You've been away for two months now, so you're gonna make up for it by working twice as hard as everyone here! Understand?!"

"Of course, your Badness!" Kammy bowed to the Koopa King. "And do not worry. I have already been well informed of recent events during my absence. I know of Princess Peach's kidnapping, not at your hands, regrettably so. I also know of the Koopalings' invasion of Mushroom Kingdom without your acknowledgement, as well as the appearance of mysterious creatures from the dark capable of stealing souls, it seems."

"Good. Now get to it, then!" Bowser commanded, as he made a gesture with his hand to send his minions away to perform their role.

Kamek was about to take his leave at his King's orders, until Kammy spoke once more. "One moment, my Lord! While I was returning from my long visit, I came across something of interest that you should be made aware of."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"When I flew past Toad Town, I saw that Mario was about to depart from the capital once more."

"That's it?" asked the annoyed King, as he had heard the same thing numerous times before. "I already know that Mario is also searching for Princess Peach! He's been doing it for two months already! I don't want anybody telling me what Mario's been doing in his every day life!"

"Hah! You're quite the informant, old hag." complimented Kamek sarcastically. "It seems that you have grown so old that you become quite slow in delivering news to Lord Bowser."

"Ah, shut your beak and let me finish!" reprimanded Kammy before turning her attention back to Bowser. "You see, my Lord, there is something quite peculiar in Mario's latest departure, and I believe it is best to inform you of it first."

The Koopa King groaned, as he got tired of hearing any more of Mario's activity. But he decided to let it slide just this once. "Alright, fine. But after this, I don't wanna hear any more of it from now on! So, what is Mario up to this time?" he asked.

As Kammy was about to speak of the latest news, all attention was aimed towards her. Bowser, Kamek, Junior, the Koopalings, and all the guards present in the throne room all listened closely to what she had to say.

"It seems that Mario is about to leave… to the outside world."

* * *

Sounds of the ocean wave splashing against the shore filled the air of the afternoon. A group of seagulls were seen flying around the harbour, squawking to make their presence known. The cold, uninterrupted wind blew across the coast, serving as a way to tempt those who wish to travel by sea.

In the port area of Toad Town, a boat that can hold a very small amount of people was docked at the shore. The majority of the townsfolk in the capital all gathered at the port, upon hearing the news of their hero's latest departure. The difference between the latest one and the ones before was that he would be traveling past the kingdom's borders.

After placing his bag containing necessary supplies down on the floor against the outer structure of the control room, Mario walked across the platform connecting the boat to the port to reach Toadsworth and the residents of the capital who all stood at the port to see him off. The crystal sword was placed fairly firmly on his back.

"Master Mario," Toadsworth was the first to speak, to represent all of the citizens about their thoughts on the red-capped hero's departure. "Are you certain about this? From our knowledge, you have never journeyed outside of the borders before, have you?"

"I'm sure of it." The determined plumber nodded. "If what that Taishi guy said is true, then we won't find Princess Peach anywhere in Mushroom Kingdom. If that's the case, then I have to go to the outside world."

"I see." Toadsworth nodded in his turn. "Truth be told, only a few of us have ever been able to keep track of what has occurred outside, but even then, not by much. It is dangerous to venture out into the unknown without some sort of guidance along the way."

"You're right, Toadsworth. And that's why I'll need all the help that I can get once I get to the other side. For starters, I have some old friends over there who might know a bit about the outside world, so they can help me with that."

"Hm. It seems that you are determined to see this through." Toadsworth smiled through his white moustache, after witnessing the plumber's resolve. He stepped forward and pulled out something from behind to hand over to Mario. "In that case, I want you to deliver this during your travels."

"Hm?" Mario raised an eyebrow upon seeing the object in the elderly Toad's hands. Grabbing the object, he inspected it a little, as he looked at both the front and back. "It's a letter?"

"Addressing to the princess of another kingdom." Toadsworth explained. "She and Princess Peach had kept a close contact with one another to share what has occurred in their respective kingdoms, as well as their daily lives. I suggest that you travel to that kingdom to meet the princess there. And once you have delivered the letter explaining our unfortunate situation, she will gladly offer her support to you."

Mario smiled as he put the letter safely away in his person. "Thank you, Toadsworth. This is gonna be helpful in the long run."

The steward nodded, as he stroked his puffy moustache. The red plumber then turned his head towards the green dinosaur, who was standing at his side the whole time. "What about you, Yoshi? Are you sure that you wanna come with me? It's going to be a long journey, and you'll be away from the island for a while."

"Yoshi! (I'm sure of it!)" Yoshi nodded enthusiastically. "Yoshi Yoshi, Yoshi! Yoshi, Yoshi! Yoshi, Yoshi? (We've been through thick and thin, you and I! Wherever you go, I'll always be here to give you a ride when you need it! Besides, you're gonna need some company, right?)"

Mario chuckled as he appreciated his trusty steed's enthusiasm. He patted the green dinosaur on his head as a gesture of gratitude. "Thanks, big guy. I can always rely on you." he said. Yoshi nodded once more.

"Toad Town is still badly damaged from yesterday." Toadsworth stated. "And we also have to deal with the unfortunate tragedy that has befallen upon us in the process. We will surely be mourning those who have lost their lives. But do not worry! We will work our darnest to recover from such tragedy, and rebuild the capital to its former glory! Only then will we celebrate the return of our hero and the Princess, when the time is right!"

"And we'll be sure to count on you until then, Toadsworth." Mario said. The green dinosaur nodded in agreement.

Toadsworth returned the nod with his own. But it was then that he realized that something was amiss. Looking around the port, he noticed that a very important person was missing. "By the way, I have not seen Master Luigi anywhere here. Have you told him about your departure, by any chance?"

"Well, of course I did. Just before I left the house too." Mario replied, he himself realizing that his little brother was nowhere to be found around the port. "When I told him that I'll be away for a good while, he seemed indecisive for some reason. And he looked like he wanted to say something too."

"I see. Well, it is unfortunate that he is not present to see you off. But I am certain that he is giving you his best wishes, even as we speak."

"You may be right." The red plumber agreed with what the steward said about his brother. Although he was somewhat disappointed that Luigi was not there among the townsfolk, he would like to believe that Luigi was understanding of his departure.

It was about time for the Mushroom Kingdom hero and his trusty steed to get going. Looking over the townspeople present at the port, Mario announced his exit to them. "Everyone! It's time for us to go!" he then turned his head towards Yoshi. "Yoshi, let's get going."

The green dinosaur nodded, as he already ran across the platform to board the ship that was about to leave. Mario was also crossing the platform. However, midway through…

"WAIT!" A familiar voice suddenly cried out from a distance. Mario, Yoshi, Toadsworth and the rest of the citizens all looked at the direction of where the voice was coming from.

Running past the entrance of the port was Luigi, who looked like he was running a good distance beforehand and was carrying a humongous bag on his back that was more than twice his size, packed with a lot of supplies such as food, tents, sleeping bags, you name it.

The townsfolk all moved out of the way, when the green plumber eventually ran past the crowd with his huge bag. He stopped right in front of his brother, as he bent his knees down to catch his breath. He also tried to be careful not to get off balance because of the very large bag on his back. "Hah…! Hah…! Please…! Just wait a moment…!"

"Luigi? You came after all!" Mario exclaimed, happy that his brother arrived just in time. He was then rendered confused at the huge bag that Luigi was carrying. "And what's with the bag?"

Luigi continued to pant, taking his time to relax his lungs. Once he felt that he had recovered just enough to utter a few words, he looked at his brother straight in the eyes. "Mario…! Please…! Take me with you!"

"Huh?!" Mario and a good number of people around him were caught off-guard by what the green plumber declared.

"Master Luigi?!" Toadsworth looked at Luigi in surprise, just like everyone there. "Are you saying that you intend to accompany Master Mario in his journey?!"

"Uh… Yeah!" Luigi replied.

Recovering from the shock just a bit, Mario showed concerned for his little brother. "Luigi, I don't know if I should take you with me. I mean, it's going to be dangerous, and who knows what's waiting on the other side of the border. I'm worried that you won't be able to handle it…"

"I know that!" Luigi shouted, surprising the big brother. "And I know… I know that I'm scared too! At what's waiting for me there! I can't hide that fact! But…!" He gripped the straps of the bag, as he attempted to conjure up courage in him. "… But I can't just sit still not knowing if you're okay, Mario! I just can't!"

"Luigi…"

"Mario… You've been in a lot of adventures, doing all those amazing things for Mushroom Kingdom… While I was just sitting there, watching TV and doing chores all day, waiting for you to come back from your adventures. I can live with you going on a big journey in Mushroom Kingdom… But we're talking about a world outside of the kingdom! Where there's no guaranteed that you'll be alright!"

The little brother stared at the red plumber intensively, his expression clearly showing that he was frightened, but hiding a solid resolve underneath. "So please, Mario…! Just this once…! Take me with you! I wanna see things through with you too!"

Listening to his little brother's every word, Mario felt touched by his resolve. Even though Luigi was easily scared of the whole idea, it was clear that he was greatly concerned for his older brother, just enough to move past his fears to make sure that Mario was alright. Convinced, Mario gave his brother a warm smile, as he placed his hand on his shoulder. "… Thank you, Luigi. It's good to know that you have my back."

Luigi's expression brightened, as he had gotten his brother's approval. "Hah…! Big bro…!"

"Now let's get going, shall we?" Mario asked as he pointed at the boat behind him with his thumb.

"Yeah!" The green plumber shouted, as both he and Mario made their way across the platform to board the boat. However, when Luigi reached the midway point, because of the steep placement of the platform, as well as the weight of the enormous bag, he found himself being carried backwards. Despite his best attempts to keep his balance, he eventually fell back, the huge bag falling flat against the platform and the concrete found of the port. The townsfolk quickly moved out of the way of the bag.

Finding himself laying down with his back on the bag, he struggled to get himself back off, as apparent from his legs biking at the air in vain. "Ngh…! Uh… Help, help!"

Mario, Yoshi and the rest all moved in to help the green plumber get up and traverse the steep platform safely. Putting the heavy bag down at last, Luigi could only sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off of his forehead, upon finally boarding the boat.

After withdrawing the platform, Mario looked over the people of Toad Town one last time before his departure. "Everyone! Take care of yourselves! We're definitely going to bring back Princess Peach Toadstool!"

The townspeople all cheered for their hero, moments before the boat was about to leave. "You take care of yourselves as well, Master Mario! Master Luigi! Yoshi, my good friend!"

The trio all nodded to the elderly steward before moving towards the control room to signal the captain of the ship to get going.

When they opened the door of the room, they were met with the sight of a small, pink Toadette who was at the helm. "Hi!" greeted Toadette upon meeting the trio. "Ready to go, guys?"

"Yes! We're ready to go, Toadette!" Mario replied.

"Wait a tick…" Luigi spoke, when he noticed that the pink Toadette seemed strangely familiar. Then, something in his head ticked when he remembered where he had seen her before. "Wait, aren't you the lead chef back at the castle?"

"Right you are, Mister Green!" Toadette confirmed proudly, calling the little brother by a name other than his proper name, to his annoyance. "I also happen to be an expert captain here!"

"Heh! That sounds convenient." said the amused Mario. "Okie-dokie! Let's-a-go, Toadette!"

"You got it!" Toadette exclaimed, as she began to turn on the engine of the boat in preparation of the departure. "First stop: Rogueport Town!"

The boat's horns blared out into the sky, and its propellers started to turn underneath the ocean surface. At last, the boat started to set sail, leaving the docks.

The people of Toad Town all shouted and waved the trio goodbye, as well as wishing them good luck, while the boat was moving away from the port. Mario, Luigi and Yoshi all waved back at them as they were leaving. The two parties continued to send their goodbyes at each other, until the boat sailed past the harbour and into the vast ocean.

Toadsworth watched as the boat began to disappear into the horizon. "Good luck, Mario Brothers. May the heavens smile upon you in your great journey."

The boat finally left the vicinity of Toad Town, as it sailed across the sea towards its destination, a town that was near the border of Mushroom Kingdom. Toadette hummed a catchy tune as she steered the boat towards their destination, while Luigi and Yoshi stood at the port side, with the human eating a mushroom and the dinosaur eating a melon, both taken out from the two bags.

Mario stood at the deck of the boat, as wind was blowing into his face. He looked at the direction of where he would start his new journey in the outside world, armed with the mysterious crystal sword on his back. He then dug his hand into one of the pockets of his overalls and took out something from it. He then grasped the object firmly in his hand.

"Peach… Wait for me." he whispered. "I'll definitely get stronger. And when I do… I'll come and rescue you, no matter what."

Mario looked on as the boat carried him to the strange land. His desire to save his beloved princess was the drive that allowed him to go through his most epic journey yet…

… As the left half of the golden, star-shaped pendant rested in his hand.

* * *

Sounds of waterfall filled the atmosphere of the green forest, as the water from the river fell into the spring. The spring itself served as somewhat of a sacred place within the forest due to how pure it was, and how there was always a calming atmosphere whenever someone entered the area.

It was nearly dusk when two men sat on the sand near the spring, as they discussed with one another about a number of subjects. A horse stood by, as she waited for the two man to be done with their business together.

"I have a favour to ask of you…" said the older man, as he turned his head towards the young man beside him. "Would you go deliver the item in my stead?"

"Really? What brought this on?" asked the young man, surprised that the older man was willing to leave such an important task to him.

"You have never been to the kingdom, right?" The older man asked in his turn.

"Right…"

"Out there, there is a great castle. And around it is a large town, a community far bigger than our little village… And far bigger than that is the rest of the world the gods created."

"I see… But… Why are you telling me this?"

"I believe that it is time for you to look upon it all with your own eyes. You are ready to set out for a big journey."

The young man remained unsure. He felt that it was too early for him to set out of the village, let alone carrying out such an important task. "I'll… I'll think about it."

"Alright then." The older man nodded in acknowledgement, as he stood up from the ground. He looked at the sky to see that the Sun was setting, and that night would soon loomed over their village. "It is getting late. I will talk to the mayor about this matter."

The young man nodded in agreement, as he stood up from the ground as well.

"Let's get back to the village… Link."

_End of Chapter_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everybody! It's me, Anomynous Nin! Here with Chapter 4 of my biggest story yet! Now, for this Author's Note, I want to say just a few things
> 
> We have reached the end of the introductory arc! I'm glad that I finally wrapped it up so that I can finally shift focus from the Mario series to the other Nintendo series! I would like to thank all of you for sticking around throughout!
> 
> Also, as you can see in the end of the chapter, the Legend of Zelda series is being represented. Now, before you guys move on to the next chapter, I want to clarify some things about this series' representation.
> 
> The main focus will be on Twilight Princess. However, elements of other games will be included into the representation, and the events of the original game will differ from here on out. I'm just gonna warn you guys here. If you're expecting a faithful representation of Twilight Princess… Well… You've got another one coming.
> 
> That is all I have to say to you guys! Again, thank you for the support, and I hope that you stick around with me to the end! Feel free to share your thoughts with everybody here! See ya guys next time!


	6. Soul of Courage

Many thoughts passed through a certain woman's mind, in light of what had transpired over the course of a single day. What initially started out as a peaceful day for the innocent people of the world shrouded in twilight turned out to be something very horrific that transformed the nature of the world and its people into a nightmare.

It all happened so quickly. She first heard of that terrible phenomenon from a guard, about how the citizens were being transformed into monsters of darkness. Only mere seconds after he delivered such news that he too transformed into the same monster.

She could never forget what she had witnessed. A dark aura surrounding the guard, as he screamed in sheer horror, crying for help, before it enveloped him. Standing in his place was a black beast wearing a large, stone mask with dark tentacles sticking out from where the head was. No sooner did she realize that everyone else around her were also turned into dark beasts.

Despite her magic powers, she was unable to suppress the transformed people of the realm, and she did not desire to harm them as well. During her attempt to escape them, she learned who was behind such horrible phenomenon, but by then, it was too late. The entire population of the world had been turned into shadow beasts. She was the only one left. All she could do… was run. But running could only take her so far.

She found herself trapped between a cliff leading to a bottomless void of darkness and the group of shadow beasts that were advancing towards her. And leading the group was a man she used to trust. The man responsible for bringing such darkness upon the peaceful realm.

He was a tall man wearing black, baggy robe bearing turquoise lines and symbols all around, with the long sleeves hiding the arms and having tassels hanging to the floor. His head was concealed by a metallic helmet resembling a chameleon's head, with the tongue serving as the mouth guard. He also wore shoulder guards that were decorated with serpents and a red gem at the centre, as well as a pair of shoes resembling dragon heads.

The hostile man stopped his march, and his beast army followed suit, halting at some distance away from the fleeing woman. The woman's sight met with that of the helmet-wearing man, and whatever they had with each other was replaced with hostility.

"Why?!" asked the cloaked woman to the man responsible for the madness, clearly torn by his actions. "Why did you do this to our people?! After everything we've done for you?! Tell me why!"

"… I have been waiting for far too long." replied the man with the black robe. "The power to rule over this realm was supposed to be mine. What I have received instead was betrayal, from the people that I once swore to protect. And now, I am simply taking what is rightfully mine."

"But that does not justify what you have done to our people! It's madness! They have nothing to do with all of this!"

"Oh, but they have." The helmet-wearing man argued. "They have committed the grievous crime of turning against their true ruler and following a false one instead. I find all of this to be quite an appropriate punishment for traitors such as them."

"You… You have truly gone mad! There really is no limit to how far you have fallen…" said the sadden woman as she closed her eyes and came to accept that the man in front of her had gone off the deep end. When she opened her eyes again, her face adopted an expression of determination.

She moved her hands near her chest and, with her powerful magic, she conjured up a ball of energy in-between them that grew larger and larger. "This madness… It must end! It is my duty to ensure that this world and its people remain protected from any who wish to bring harm to it! Even if it's someone who I once trusted with my whole life! You must be stopped!"

Once the energy ball had grown large enough, she thrusted her hands forward, shooting the magic ball straight at the robed man. The man remained still, even as the attack was approaching quickly. Once the attack got close enough, a powerful gust of wind blew around him and disintegrated the energy ball once it made contact.

The woman gasped, as she just witnessed her powerful magic being overpowered by someone whose magic prowess was supposed to be inferior to hers. The helmet-wearing man simply watched her being rendered baffled by what had occurred, as he raised his arm up and directed it towards her. "Your magic… will not work on me."

As he said it, he conjured up his own ball of energy near the tip of his sleeve. With no warning, the energy ball shot out at the speed of light and struck the woman directly.

The woman cried out in pain, as the opposing magic coursed through her body and damaging it internally. Feeling weakened in the process, she fell to her hands and knees, as she attempted to relieve some of the pain by gritting her teeth hard, closing her eyes shut and gripping against the ground with her fingers. The hostile man stood by and watched.

The pain lasted for a bit and slowly diminished after each passing second. Once the pain became bearable, the panting woman slowly opened her eyes. The moment she laid her eyes on her hands, she instantly realized that something was wrong.

Her hands had shrunken in size. She looked further to see that her arms, legs, and her entire body had also shrunken, as if they were reverted to the size of a child. Her hands roamed over the strange body, attempting to figure out if she was hallucinating or had gone mad due to the nightmare surrounding her. Eventually, her hands reached her head, and she felt a significant difference, as her head felt larger with exaggerated pointy ears, and her hair became short.

She looked at her trembling hands once more, as realization had dawned upon her. She then turned her attention back at the robed man, throwing him a fierce glare equal to the might of a thousand suns. "YOU! What… What have you done to me?!"

"I simply casted a curse upon you and transformed you into what you truly are. A small, inferior being who knows not how to use the power bestowed upon her properly." he explained. "Your power has been greatly restrained. And as a result, the one who now holds the most power in this world is none other than I."

The imp-like woman gritted her teeth in rage, as she continued to glare at him.

The man simply scoffed. "Oh, do not give me that look. I am doing what is best for our home. It would be unwise to go against its benefits." The man approached the woman's shrunken body by taking a few steps forward. Then, he extended his hand out to her. "Do not worry. I will not kill you or turn you into another slave. I have taken care of you since you were born. So naturally… I want you to see this through with me."

"What…?!"

"Do you not wish for our people to be freed from their prison? To destroy the boundaries that separate our world from the other world? Our two worlds used to be one… And I desire to unite them once more. So I ask you… Join me. With your powers and mine… We will conquer the two realms together, and rule over those who have shunned us and drove us away from what is rightfully ours!"

After hearing such preposterous proposition from him, the woman could not contain her anger any longer. With a rage-fuelled cry, she charged at the helmet-wearing man with her fist drawn, despite being in a small, weakened body. The masked man easily stopped her charge by grabbing her neck with one hand and lifted her up from the ground.

She gasped for air, as she gripped and clawed at the hand holding her neck tight, in an attempt to break herself free from his hold. Nothing she did had any effect on him, however, and he still held her up in the air.

"You still defy me?" he asked, slightly surprised that she was still opposing him even after he spoke of his desires for their world. "Well… It is to be expected. After all, you have yet to grasp the reality of our situation."

She responded by glaring at him once more, showing once again her defiance towards his madness. Her anger was so strong that it took her a while to notice that a large, black, circular portal with white runes had appeared behind her. She widened her eyes when she realized what he was going to do with her.

"Perhaps a considerable time in the world of light will make you understand." he said, as he moved near the portal while carrying the weakened woman by the neck. "Once you have experienced the light dwellers' unjust cruelty towards beings such as us… You will come to accept my ambitions. Until then… Enjoy your time in the world of light!"

With his final words spoken to her, he tossed her imp-like body towards the dark portal. She cried out in fear, as she reached her arms out to the world in front of her, before her whole body broke up into small, black parts that were all being sucked into the portal.

* * *

A larger, black portal appeared in the nightly sky, in the middle of a grassy plains where no one was around. Small, individual black parts emerged out of the portal, as they fell towards the ground. The parts all joined together to form a small imp who fell unconscious during the surreal journey from one world to the next.

Upon making contact with the ground, consciousness quickly returned to her, as her eyes were wide opened. She swiftly looked at her surroundings to find that she was surrounded by green grass, with a forest seen at a distance in one direction and mountains in the other direction. She looked up to see the black portal disappearing in her sights, leaving her staring at the dark sky occupied by the bright stars and the crescent moon.

She was brought into the other world against her will. And the one responsible for bringing such misery upon their world was still on the other side, doing as he pleased. Rage slowly filled her being, as she kept thinking back what had happened.

"ZAAAAAAAANT!" She unleashed her anger by screaming his name, as she slammed both of her fists against the ground repeatedly, spouting curses at him with punch. "YOU TRAITOR! USURPER! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

She continued to scream and punch the grass-filled earth to the point of exhaustion. She panted heavily as her hands and knees rested on the ground, her mind still thinking back on the events that led to the disaster, her anger never diminishing one bit.

She desired to return to her world in order to make him pay. But with her powers as it was currently, she had to find another way to cross from one world to the next, if there even existed another way. However, what would she do once she returned there? And how would she defeat the Usurper alone with her diminished magic?

Then, she remembered a legend that was passed down from one generation to the next, about a hero who bears the symbol of Courage appearing every millennia to bring salvation to the people. If such a hero truly existed, perhaps she could use him to travel back to her world and defeat the Usurper.

She raised her hand up, with the palm facing the sky. A stone, two-horned and one-eyed helmet with a complex design appeared above her palms, as she understood the purpose of the object and the power that it wielded.

A large, wicked grin appeared on her face, as she began to plot her vengeance…

* * *

"Yah! Hah! Hyah!"

A silver bay horse ridden by a young man was seen chasing after a herd of goats, blue and white-furred animals with long ears and large horns forming a complete circle. The goats cried out as they ran away from the large animal inside of a ranch consisting of a barn house and a large plain surrounded by wooden fences and mountain cliffs.

The man riding the red house was a young man with short, blond hair, with bangs sweeping to one side and hair hanging on each side of his face. He has a pair of blue eyes and pointed ears identifying him as Hylian. He wore a white, sleeveless shirt with designs identifying him as a resident of his village, as well as a green armguard on his left arm, held by a belt around his body. He also wore a blue cloth wrapped around his waist by a small, orange one, a dark green garment wrapped around the top area of his lower body, a pair of white trousers, a pair of sandals, and bandages wrapped around each of his wrists.

The young man was known as Link, a young farmer of the village of Ordon.

Link rode his horse, Epona, in an expertly manner, as they chased the group of goats and attempted to send them running into the farm house where they would rest for the remainder of the day. They managed to round up a good number of them into the wooden barn, where an older man stood by the gate to keep them in check.

"Atta boy, Link! Just one more to go!" shouted the long-faced man with very short brown hair, wearing similar clothing as link with the exception of the armguard. He was known as Fado, the owner of the ranch.

Fado scanned the entire ranch in order to find the last goat that was still out there, minding its own business. When he located it at last, he was alarmed by its current behaviour.

The last remaining goat glared at the galloping horse, as it breathed out through its snout and pawed the ground. In a fit of rage, it began to dash after the red horse.

"Look out! That one's real mad!" alerted Fado as soon as the goat's aggressive behaviour became apparent.

Link turned his head to see the goat rushing towards them. Steering the reins, he signalled Epona to gallop faster, and his steed responded, as the goat was chasing after them at full speed.

It seemed as if the tables had been turned, with the roles being switched between the two parties. However, it was exactly the way Link wanted, as he was intentionally leading the raging goat in an attempt to trick it into entering the barn.

After the two animals ran a whole lap around the ranch, the blond-haired man cued his horse to run straight towards the barn house, and the raging goat quickly followed in their movement. As the two mammals dashed straight ahead, Link turned his head back to make sure that the goat was still following them.

As soon as Epona got as close as possible to the entrance of the barn, Link steered the reins tightly, and the red horse took a sharp turn to the left away from the barn.

The goat ended up ramming itself into the inner back wall of the barn house, as Fado quickly closed the gates on the herd. "That's it! That's all of them!" he shouted, as he energetically waved his arms at Link to signify that the deed was done.

Link gently pulled the reins back, as Epona slowly halted its march. The blond-haired man stroked his steed by the side of her neck, as he spoke words of praise to her. "Good girl, Epona. You did a really good job." he said before he dropped himself off the saddle.

The ranch owner ran up to the young man with a satisfied look on his face. "That's some mighty fine work ya did there, Link! Ya managed to round 'em up faster than last time!"

"Thank you, Fado." Link thanked him as he nodded his head, holding the reins by one hand.

"Ya know, I feel kinda bad asking ya to do this for old Fado every time." Fado admitted, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. "If only I got better at making those stubborn goats listen to me for once."

"Don't feel bad, Fado." Link reassured him. "I'm just glad that I've been of use to you. You know that Epona and I will always offer our help to anyone in need."

"Aw geez, thanks, buddy!" Fado smiled. "Welp, thanks to you, I can finish things up early today! You go and take a break now!"

"Thank you. Take care of yourself, Fado!" The two men waved each other goodbye before the blond-haired man started walking towards the gate of the ranch, gently pulling his horse along by the reins.

Both Link and Epona left the ranch owner to handle things on his own for the rest of the day, as they began walking back to the village. On their way, however, Link noticed that there was a person standing at the gate, presumably waiting for him to finish his work there.

It was a young woman of long, orange hair, blue eyes and pointed ears that signified that she was of Hylian race. She was around the same age as him. She wore a white shirt with blue symbols on the sleeves, along with a yellow scarf wrapped around her shoulders and attached by a brooch at the front. She also wore a long, purple skirt with rectangular-shaped patterns at the bottom, as well as brown garment with designs layered over the front of the skirt attached by a brown belt.

"Nice display of teamwork, you two!" complimented the smiling woman.

"Malon! It's you!" exclaimed Link, surprised to see an old friend standing at the gate, as he and Epona joined her by her side. "I didn't you know that you came for a visit!"

"I'm just doing the usual rounds with my dad." Malon explained. "We passed by the entrance of the woods and I thought that I should take a quick visit to the village to see how you and the other folks are doing. Good to see that everything's alright here."

"Well, either way, it's good to see you again. I'm sure that Epona is delightful to see you again like this." Link said as he turned his head towards his steed. "Isn't that right, girl?" The red horse neighed in response.

Malon giggled, as she patted the horse on the head. "Good to see you too, Epona." she said, smiling. "Now, how about the three of us walk back down to the village? Let's go, fairy boy!" She started walking towards the pathway leading to the village, as she called the blue-eyed man by an affectionate nickname.

Link nodded as he and Epona followed the orange-haired girl to the village, leaving the ranch.

* * *

Ordon Village. It was a small, serene village stationed deep within the forest inhabited by farmers. Its inhabitants were small in numbers, but it allowed them to form familial bonds with one another. It was a village that maintained its livelihood by selling goods to neighbouring towns and villages. The goods consisted of pumpkins cultivated on healthy soil, milk produced from goats, eggs from chickens, and many more.

The village consisted of only a few houses, including some that were built on a tree and under it as well. It was blessed with a river that flowed across the field, and it acted as source of power for the village, as evident of the functioning waterwheel built on one of the houses. Chickens were seen running around the village freely, and hawks were seen flying through the skies above the village from time to time. It was certainly a serene village filled with cheerful people.

Link, Epona and Malon entered the village through an entryway, as the two persons discussed with one another about a variety of subjects.

"Lon Lon Ranch is pretty far from Ordon Village, right?" Link asked. "I find it hard to believe that you and your father are perfectly fine with travelling through the fields this far away from home."

"Oh, don't you worry about it!" Malon replied. "Dad and I enjoy taking our horses out for a stroll as long and far as here. It certainly beats being stuck with doing menial tasks back at the ranch. In fact, it's only because dad is wide awake this time that we can travel with our horses like this."

Link chuckled. "Sounds like your dad hasn't change a bit, huh?"

"You got that right." Malon shrugged. "It's a bit of a pain, but that's good old dad to you."

"That being said, you really don't have to visit Ordon Village, you know? Isn't your dad waiting for you outside?"

"Yep. But don't worry. It's only a quick visit. Besides, I want to see if you're treating Epona right. And since I've seen the teamworkship that you two have shown back there, I have nothing to worry about."

"Come on, Malon. You know better than anyone that she and I have great chemistry together."

The orange-haired woman smiled. "As if there's any doubt."

The three of them continued to walk through the village, as they moved towards where Link's house was located. However, Link stopped himself when he heard the cries of a familiar young girl.

"Get down from there, you stubborn cat! My mom is really worried about you!"

Turning his head towards the direction of the voice, he saw a young, brown-haired girl standing at a distance near a large tree situated near the house where the waterwheel was built on. The young girl was seen shouting for the cat that was sitting on the branch of the tall tree, with the young feline refusing to come down no matter how often she shouted.

The young girl pouted, as she placed her hands on her hips, frustrated by the cat's non-compliance. "Honestly! You should have known by now that mom gets depressed when you're out for too long!" Sighing, she turned her head around to see if there was anything that she could use to get the cat back down on the ground. When her eyes located Link standing at a distance away from her, her expression noticeably lightened up. "Oh Link! Are you done working for today?"

"What's the matter, Beth?" Link asked as he let go of the reins and walked to where the young girl was. Malon followed the young man after she instructed Epona to stay where she was, as the two of them crossed the small, wooden bridge to join the young girl.

The young girl with freckles around the bridge of her nose named Beth has short, brown hair that curled up at the ends, with bangs going to one side with the aid of a red hair clip attached to her hair, resulting in her wide forehead being shown. She wore a similar outfit as Link, as was the case for most inhabitants of the village. The outfit consisted of a white, sleeveless shirt, a magenta cloth around her waist held by a smaller, white one tied around it, a pair of purple trousers, a pair of sandals, bandages wrapped around her arms, and a pendant attached to the collar on her neck. She also wore a pair of earrings. She was often seen carrying a small basket where a stuffed doll sat.

"Oh Link! It's my cat!" Beth said as she ran up to the pair of young adults. "He's sitting up on a tree and he just won't get down from here no matter how many times I tell him to! You know how worried my mom gets when he's out for too long! But no matter how many times this happens, he just won't do as I say!"

"Sounds like a stubborn kitty, alright." Malon said.

Beth turned around to throw a disappointed look at the cat that was still sitting on the tree branch. "If he's out any longer, my mom will be too depressed to manage the store properly! Honestly, this cat never learns!" she complained. Then, when she turned back to the young adults, she gave Link a look of pure admiration with stars in her eyes, as she intertwined her fingers together near her chest and begged for his help. "Oh my hero! Won't you please help little old me in getting my poor cat back down here? Just for my sake?"

"Oh! Well, sure thing." Link agreed to help. "Though, I can't really say that it's not going to be a challenge."

"Ooh! That's a first, coming from you!" teased Malon. "What's wrong with getting the cat back down? All you have to do is climb up the tree, grab the cat, and get back down for an easy win!"

"It's not really that simple." Link said as he scratched the back of his head. "The last time I did that, the cat ended up scratching my face all over, and I ended up falling off the tree and flat on my back. I'm not really in the mood to go through the exact same thing today."

"Well, I can't see any other way that you can do to get the little fella back down. Any ideas, fairy boy?"

"Hmmm…" Link closed his eyes and cupped his chin, as he assumed a thinking pose. He searched his mind for something that could help him get the cat back down without going through the obvious, painful method. Then, he recalled a past event that gave him a clear idea on what he could do.

Reaching for his back, he took out a wooden fishing rod, which consisted of a simple rod with a wire and hook attached to it. "A fishing rod? Wait, isn't that the one that Colin made for you?" Beth asked.

"That's right." Link replied. "He gave it to me as a gift just a few days ago. With the help of this, I'm positive that your cat is going to come back down."

"How's a fishing rod going to help?"

Link smiled, as he made his way towards the river. "You'll see." Once he stepped onto the wooden pier, he pulled the fishing rod back and swung it forward, letting the hook fly through the air and fall into the river at some distance away from him.

The two girls watched the young man performing something simple as fishing. It took Malon a few seconds to realize what was his plan. "So that's it! Link is trying to catch a fish from the river that he can use to lure the cat into getting back down!"

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Beth once she found out about it. "My cat has been trying to catch some fish lately, so if he sees Link catching some, then…" Once Beth connected the dots about what would happen, she began to cheer for the young man. "Go, Link! Catch those fishes for my sake!"

Link waited patiently for something underwater to bite down on the hook. His patience paid off when something did grab a bite, and it was pulling the hook down. Holding the fishing rod with two hands, he started to pull it up in order to catch whatever was biting down on the hook. "Alright, here it comes!" he shouted. Beth continued to cheer for Link, while Malon watched on.

While the trio were occupied with the cat situation, Epona stood by on the other side of the wooden bridge, minding her own business until her owner comes back by her side. She stared into the distance from one point to the next. It wasn't until she noticed a familiar person standing in front of her. Epona neighed at the sight of the person.

The mysterious individual walked closer to the red horse and stroked her on the head. Then, the individual took hold of the reins and began to gently pull the horse along with her to a particular destination, while the others were still busy resolving the issue at hand.

After a bit of struggle, Link managed to pull the rod out just enough for a fish to emerge itself out of the river, hanging onto the hook by the mouth. "Yes! I got a greengill !" Link exclaimed as he held the hanging fish in front of him.

"Yay! You got it, Link!" Beth cheered as she clapped enthusiastically. Malon joined in on the cheer by calming clapping to the blonde-haired man's simple achievement.

The blue-eyed man walked towards the tree with the fish in hand, as he looked up to the cat sitting on the branch. "Hey, look at what I got! I'm sure that this is what you're looking for, right?"

The cat looked down and fixated his sights on the hanging fish as soon as it saw it. The small feline continued to stare at the fish in the young man's hand for a short while, until he leaped off the branch and snatched the fish from Link's grasp. Immediately after he landed on the ground, the cat ran off, crossed the wooden bridge, and went a small building located on the side.

Beth gasped in delight after seeing her cat running off. "It worked! He's running back to our house!" she shouted, seeing as her situation had been resolved thanks to Link. Turning back towards the young man, she gave him the same look of admiration as last time, as she expressed her gratitude to him. "Oh thank you so much, Link! You're a lifesaver, you know!"

"It's not a big deal, Beth." Link said. "Now that you've seen what I did just now, the next time your cat is stuck on a tree and doesn't come back down, you'll know what to do, right?"

"Mm-hmm!" Beth nodded. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind!" Afterwards, she proceeded to run back towards her home, following the same path as her cat. She waved the two young adults goodbye while doing so. "Thank you again, Link! My hero!"

Link and Malon waved back at the departing young girl before she disappeared from their sights. The orange-haired woman then elbowed the blue-eyed man gently on the side. "Well, well! Looks like you got yourself a fan there!" she teased him with a smile.

"You think so?" Link asked as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "It can't be help, really. I'm just glad that I can offer some help from time to time, you know?"

"And that's something about you that can never change." she said, as she appreciated that aspect about him.

The two young adults then turned around as they were about to rejoin Epona, only to notice that Link's trusty steed was absent from her spot. "Huh? Where's Epona?" Malon asked, perplexed that the red horse was gone.

"That's strange." Link said as he looked around the village to try and find his horse, but could not find a single trace of her anywhere. "It's not like her to just up and leave without me."

"Yeah. And I did told her to stay put until we're back, too." Malon said, as she too found no trace of the silver bay horse anywhere. She then threw a suspecting look at the blue-eyed man. "Link, don't tell me that you were pushing her too hard while I wasn't around? Because if you were…"

"What? No, of course not!" Link replied as he waved his hands in front of him in a defensive matter. "And whatever happened to you saying you have no doubts about our chemistry together?"

"Well, either way, we gotta go find her. She might still be in the village if we look hard enough. I'd hate to imagine poor Epona leaving the village with nobody around her…"

Link grasped his chin with his hand, as he pondered where his horse might be. If she was just strolling around the village aimlessly, they may as well look around the whole place for her before something unfortunate happened.

The blonde-haired farmer thought through numerous locations that she might be, and one place stood out for him. He knew Epona well enough that she wouldn't bail out on him unless she was accompanied by someone as trustworthy as him. With that thought in mind, he came to a conclusion.

"Actually, we might not need to search far and wide." he said with a smile.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked the confused Malon.

"There's only one place where she might be. And I know exactly who took her there." After his statement, Link immediately ran gently towards the other gateway of the village.

"Hey, wait for me!" Malon exclaimed as she followed him, not knowing where he was going exactly.

Link ran towards a specific destination with a smile on his face, as he had a good feeling that Epona was waiting for him there. As well as one other person who was equally dear to him…

* * *

Deep within the woods of Ordon, the red silver bay horse stood in the middle of the spring, neighing softly in satisfaction as a soothing hand roamed around her body, washing it with the pure water from the spring.

The person washing the horse was humming a soft, calming tune as she carefully showered every inch of the red body with the spring water, motioning her hands in a way that ensured that every dirt on the body was scrubbed off with attention and care. Caring for the horse like that was one of her favourite moments of the day.

Epona allowed the young female to keep washing her like that, even lowering her head so that the individual could shower it with the spring water easily. The red horse, during a moment of relaxation, spotted her rider standing at the entrance of the spring. She neighed at the sight of her owner.

The mysterious person then turned her head towards the entrance as soon as the horse cried out as she did. The person's eyes met with Link's own, and the blond-haired man could only smile fondly at the sight of the individual standing by Epona's side.

"Oh, Link!" the individual said, returning his smile with her own. "I'm glad that you've decided to join us."

"Ilia…" Link called her by her name, his smile never leaving.

The young woman named Ilia was another kind inhabitant of Ordon Village, and Link's dear friend. She has short, blond hair with bangs over one side of her forehead, as well as a pair of green emerald eyes. Her outfit consisted of a white dress bearing a flower design held together by blue cords crossing at the back and forming three x-crosses side by side at the front. She also wore a collar that was connected to the dress at the middle, a pair of brown trousers and a brown pouch attached to the left leg.

Ilia continued to smile at Link for another short while, until she shifted her gaze towards the young woman standing next to him. "And Malon! I'm surprised to see you here!"

The orange-haired woman smiled and waved at Ilia. "Nice to see you too, Ilia." she said. "Should have known that you're the reason why Link knew that Epona would be here."

Ilia giggled. "Is that so? I always assume that it's because of their strong bond with each other, really." she said, as she stroked Epona's neck gently. "Anyway, sorry that I took off with Epona while you weren't looking. I thought that she needs a good wash after the hard work that you two have done together."

"Oh no, it's alright!" Link reassured her. "It's okay as long as she's with someone who she trusts a lot. I'm honestly glad that it's you."

Ilia smiled once more. "Oh, how nice of you to say that, Link!"

Both Link and Ilia continued to stare at each other for what seemed like a long while. Malon shifted gaze between the two of them and, seeing as there was nothing happening between them yet, she gave Link a hard pat on the back. "Hey, here's an idea! Why don't you let this guy come and help you with washing the dirt off Epona?"

"W-what?" Link blushed when Malon suggested that. "Hey, wait a minute…!"

"That sounds lovely!" Ilia replied. "I'm sure that Epona would greatly appreciate it if it's the two of us around. Right, Link?"

"Oh! Um… Well, I think so, yeah!" Link said, as he felt that it would be very rude to decline such offer, especially in front of Ilia.

"How about you come and join us as well, Malon?" The blond-haired woman asked the orange-haired Hylian.

"That sounds great. But sadly, I think I've exhausted my time here in this wonderful village." Malon said. "I can't keep my dad waiting out there, after all."

"That's a shame. But I understand." The green-eyed woman nodded in understanding. "I hope that you come and visit us as soon as possible next time. It would be wonderful if all of us spend time together."

"Don't worry! I'll make sure to come and visit again soon enough, even if I have to wake my dad up by having a Cuccoo cawing right in his ear!" Malon promised to her, before she turned her attention towards Link, as she continued to pat him on the back. "Now then, you go and keep the two of them company, fairy boy! Especially Ilia!"

"Uh, yeah. Of course." Link nodded as he intended to do what she told him to do, only to raise his eyebrow when he heard her mentioning Ilia specifically. "Wait a minute, especially Ilia? What makes you say something specifi-"

Before he could finish what he said to say, the orange-haired Hylian gave him another hard pat to the back that forced him to stumble forward, moving him closer to Ilia and Epona.

When he recovered, he turned around to see Malon waving them goodbye. "Well, time for me to get going now! Take care of yourselves, Link! Ilia! Epona!"

"Bye, Malon! You take care as well!" Ilia said as she returned the wave of farewell with her own. Link did the same, and Epona neighed and shook her head as a sign of farewell to her previous caretaker.

After saying her goodbyes, Malon walked away from the spring, as she moved towards the direction of the woods in order to rejoin her father who was waiting for her outside of the forest.

As soon as she had disappeared from you, Link turned back towards Ilia, and the two of them shared another warm look with one another. The moment lasted for what seemed like minutes, and Ilia was the first one to break the silence. "Well then, care to help me with cleaning Epona?"

The blue-eyed man nodded. "Yes." he said simply before he joined her to help with washing his horse. The two of them shared another moment of tranquility with one another, with Epona keeping them company as they take care of her.

Outside of the spring, Malon continued to walk away from the spring, turning her head back to look at where Link, Ilia and Epona resided with a smile on her lips. Link and Ilia definitely needed some quiet time together, she thought. And there was no reason for her to stick around to disturb the moment.

She then turned her head back towards the front, as she continued her walk, satisfied with how things came to be. However, her face briefly adopted a miserable expression, when she thought about something else, causing her to look down at the ground…

She kept her sights aimed down that, when she eventually raised her head back up, she barely moved out of a way of a small group of people that were marching in the opposite direction from where she was going. "Oh! Sorry about that!"

"No problem." said one person in the small group, as he raised his hand up as a sign.

Malon found herself staring at the group that was moving towards the village, and she noted how they looked. They seemed to be wearing armour and carrying weapons of sort. She thought that they must have some business at Ordon Village, for them to look as they were.

"Huh. Must be adventurers or something."

* * *

Back at the village, a man standing on one of a few rock column was keep a close watch over the whole village from where he stood. He was an older man with short brown hair and a squarish head wearing similar clothing as the rest of the inhabitants of Ordon village. He was the one responsible for cultivating pumpkins to be used for trade.

During his watch, Jaggle found that there was nothing out of the ordinary happening in their peaceful home. The river was flowing nicely, the Cuccos were roaming around freely, its inhabitants were peacefully going about their daily lives, his two kids were playing knights with each other, and they were one or two instances of goats running out of the ranch because of Fado's carelessness. Indeed, it was an ordinary day in Ordon Village.

As he continued to keep watch, he spotted a small group of people entering the village through the entryway leading to the woods. From what the mayor told him, they seemed to be honourable guests. "Hey, mayor! We've got visitors coming in! I think they're the ones that you talked about earlier!"

The mayor standing near his large house looked at Jaggle as he informed of visitors, then directed his gaze at the approaching group of people.

The mayor of Ordon Village was an older, round man with a balding head and white moustache resembling horns. His eyes were often closed and only rarely do people see the brown of his eyes. Similar to the inhabitants of the village, his outfit consisted of a white sleeveless robe and brown garment wrapped around his waist by a red cloth, in addition to the blue garment hanging behind the lower body, and the pair of sandals. He wore a necklace around his neck, bangles around each of his wrists and upper arms, as well as on his right ankle and above his left knees, in addition to the bandages wrapped around each of his knees.

Mayor Bo's expression brightened when he saw who the group might be, based on the information given to him by Rusl. He then rushed off to greet the visitors.

The group visiting the village was a band of mercenaries, consisting of only four people, including a white horse cladded in blue.

The man of very short, brown hair and blue eyes carrying a large axe on his back was the leader of the mercenary group. He wore a dark brown coat with yellow trim, and a cyan shirt underneath it, as well as an orange cape wrapper around his shoulders and flowing down behind his back. He also wore belts holding the coat together by the waist a pair of white pants, a pair of brown gloves and a pair of brown boots, in addition to the dark blue shoulder guard on his left shoulder, and pair of dark blue grieves.

The green-eyed woman with long, red hair arranged into long locks was the deputy commander of the group. She was cladded in white armour with gold trim worn over the long, red coat over white clothing that was held together by belts. In addition, she wore a pair black pants and long, brown high heel boots. Her weapon, a poleaxe, was attached to her back. She was seen pulling the white horse along by the reins.

The second man with the bow and quiver of arrows had long, red hair as well, tied into a ponytail and with some strains of hair hanging in front of his face. He was outfitted with a green coat held together by belts, a short brown cape, a pair of white pants and a pair of light cyan boots under black grieves. He also wore a pair of light brown gloves and a beige cloth wrapped around his left arm, serving as stability when holding a bow.

The strong-looking man cladded in heavy blue armour had short, spiky blond hair. Underneath the heavy armour, he wore a white shirt and a pair of light blue pants, in addition to a pair of black gloves and black boots. His weapon of choice was a spear that he carried on his back.

The mercenary group continued to march into the village until Mayor Bo moved in and stood in front of them to give them a proper greeting. "Ah! Welcome, welcome! You must be the group of mercenaries that Rusl has told me about!"

"Indeed we are." said the man with brown hair, as he prepared to introduce themselves to the large mayor. "We are the Greil Mercenaries. I am Greil, commander of the mercenaries. And these people here with me are my subordinates." Greil motioned his hand over to the three people standing behind him.

"Good afternoon. I am the deputy commander of the Greil Mercenaries. My name is Titania." introduced the red-haired woman named Titania.

"The name's Gatrie! Nice to meet you!" introduced Gatrie, the man in heavy armour.

"Shinon." The archer named Shinon simply spoke, not bothering to speak anymore than he should.

"I assume that you are the one who requested our help, based on what the swordsman named Rusl spoke to us about?" asked Greil.

"Yes, that is true! I am the mayor of Ordon Village, Bo. And I was the one who sent him out to find the famed Greil Mercenaries to ask for your help to do a very important job for the entire village." The mayor explained. "But let's not stand around here for too long to discuss the matter at hand. Please! Come with me to my humble abode!"

"Very well then." Greil nodded as his group proceeded to follow the mayor to his home in order to talk about the requests.

While the group of adults made their way to the mayor's house, two young boys stood in a distance, witnessing the arrival of what looked like real, professional knights.

"Malo, look!" shouted a young boy to his younger sibling as he pointed at the mercenary group. "Those must be knights! Real knights! They're actually here in Ordon Village!" The young boy with short, brown hair and a pair of green eyes wore a white shirt, beige cloth wrapped around his waist, blue garment for his lower body, bandages wrapped around his right wrist and a bangle on his left. He also wore a red bandana around his head. He was often seen carrying a wooden stick that he used as sword in order to play a warrior.

The young toddler with short hair tied into a bun looked at his older brother with a blank look on his face. "It's obvious that they're knights, Talo." he softly spoke. The green-eyed toddler wore similar clothing as his brother, with the exception of the green cloth wrapped around his waist and an orange garment around his lower body too big for his size, as it was easily touching the ground. Although he was a toddler, his intellect proved to be more developed than ordinarily so.

"Come on, Malo! We gotta go and ask them to teach us some stuff!" Talo exclaimed excitedly as both he and his younger brother were about to run towards the Greil Mercenaries.

"Now wait just a minute!" A loud voice was heard behind them, and a pair of hands grabbed the two young boys by the collar of their shirt and lifted them off the ground. Jaggle looked at his two sons with an irritated look on his face. "You boys are not going to bother our guests with your silly games!"

"H-hey! Put us down, dad!" Talo protested as he struggled against his father's hold. "We just want them to teach us a thing or two! Malo and I aren't doing anything wrong and all!"

"Technically, you're the only one who wants to go and see them, brother…" Malo corrected him, not bothering to get himself free from their father's grasp.

While the group continued their march towards the mayor's home, Gatrie whistled at the scenery around him. "This looks like a nice, quiet village. A great place to settle in with a nice gal, don't you think, Shinon?" Gatrie asked his friend.

"Hmph. I'm not impressed." Shinon replied. "I've seen better places compared to this. I doubt that they even have anything worth our time."

"Mind your manners, Shinon." Titania told him. "You can't judge how good a village or town is, based on what they have or don't have."

The archer's response was to turn his head away. The red-haired woman could only sigh at his behaviour. She was about to place her focus back on moving to their destination, until she noticed that the Commander was slowly halting his march. "What's wrong, Commander?" she asked him, concerned as to why he stopped himself.

Greil did not answer immediately. Instead, he was gazing at a house located a distance away from where they were, where two people stood by near the front door.

A older man with the trimmed moustache and short beard had short blond hair and a pair of grey eyes. Like all of the inhabitants of Ordon Village, he wore a similar outfit, consisting of a white shirt, grey cloth wrapped around his waist with a smaller, blue one, a brown garment wrapped around the top part of the lower body, a pair of grey pants and a pair of sandals. He also wore a white headband around his forehead, as well as a pair of green arm guards on his arms. A sheathed sword was strapped on his back.

Greil recognized him as Rusl, the man who came to the mercenaries for a request. The panting swordsman walked up to the woman standing at the front door, carrying a baby cradle in his arms. "Uli…! I've recovered the cradle for you…!"

The blue-eyed woman bearing a child in her belly smiled of relief. She had blond hair that stopped at the length of her neck with bangs to the side. She wore a white, long-sleeved shirt with swirling plant designs on it, as well as a dark green garment wrapped across from her left shoulder down to her hips. She also wore a brown cloth wrapped around her large belly, a pair of dark green pants and a pair of sandals.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" said the relieved Uli, as she placed her hands together on her chest. "I've been searching for that cradle for so long that I was getting worried!"

"It turns out that those troublesome monkeys had it with them all along, when I was walking through the woods earlier. I've been chasing after them for quite a while, but I managed to retrieve the cradle back from their clutches."

"Oh, Rusl! Thank you so much!" Uli showed her gratitude to him. "This cradle holds a special place in my heart… I made it for Colin when he was first born into this wonderful world. I've been meaning to use it again for our second child, and if I ever lose it before it is time…"

"I know that you cherished it ever since, Uli." Rusl said, as he cupped his wife's cheek with his hand. "Don't worry. I will do everything I can for our family. For you, Colin… And our second child." He moved his hand down from Uli's face and had it rest on her large stomach. "This I promise you, as a husband and as a father."

"Rusl…"

The two of them stared deeply into each other's eyes, sharing their profound love with one another and their desire to shower their second child with love, once the baby is born into the world.

The Commander of the mercenaries watched the scene being unfolded from a distance. A melancholic expression was made apparent on his face.

"Commander?" Titania called out to him, worried about their leader's sudden inactivity.

Greil snapped out of it and turned his head towards his subordinates. "Oh, sorry. It seems that I was in a trance for a minute there." He then gave them a smile at the. "Sorry about that. Let's continue onward, shall we?" Greil resumed his march as he followed the mayor into his home.

Shinon and Gatrie shared confused looks at each other before they too went back to following their Commander and the mayor. Titania remained, as she turned her head towards where Greil was looking and witnessed the loving couple at a distance.

She understood why the Commander acted as he did, but chose to remain silent about it out of respect.

* * *

"Here you go!" Mayor Bo said as he set the tray down on a table where they were sitting at. The tray held five cups of tea, each to be given to each individual present inside of the mayor's large house respectively.

Mayor Bo's home consisted of a large round room containing numerous of furnitures and a few picture frames placed on various locations, with a flight of stairs leading to the second floor where his bedroom resided. The first floor functioned as a living room, a kitchen and a bedroom for his daughter, which was evident of a bed placed near one of the windows. There was another room that can be accessed through a doorway, and that room served a special training purpose.

"Please enjoy yourselves to Ordon's finest tea that I have brewed especially for my guests!"

"Thank you, mayor." Greil expressed his thanks to the mayor, as he took one cup of tea in his hands. Titania and Gatrie, who were sitting next to their Commander, followed his actions by grabbing a cup each.

While the three of them accepted the mayor's hospitality, Shinon, whose back was leaning against a nearby wall, did not follow on the others' actions, as he remained there with his eyes closed and his arms crossed.

"You too, my good fellow!" The mayor directed his attention at the archer, offering him tea. "Enjoy yourself, please!"

"Sorry. But I'm not in the mood for some tea. Especially from a place like this." Shinon bluntly declined.

"Oh… Um, I see…" Mayor Bo said, slightly taken aback by Shinon's words.

"Don't mind him, mayor." Titania said. "Shinon is always like this. So please, do not worry too much about what he says."

Mayor Bo nodded. "I see. Alright then."

Gatrie took a sip of the tea. When he lowered the cup down from his lips, a wide smile was plastered on his face, as he felt the sweet taste of the tea. "Mm! This is pretty good! So this is Ordon Village's tea, huh?" he stated. Greil and Titania shared his sentiment once they had their own first taste of the tea. Gatrie turned his head towards his friend standing at the back. "Come on, Shinon! Try it! You're missing out on some great stuff, you know!"

The archer responded by turning his head away, as he made his stance very clear.

"I am very glad that you are all satisfied with my tea." the mayor said, happy to see positive reactions from them, as he drank his own tea in the process.

After the third sip, Greil put the cup of tea down on the table, as he began to speak to the mayor about the topic as hand. "Well then, mayor, would you care to elaborate on your request to us?"

"Yes, of course." Mayor Bo nodded, clearing his throat as he started to speak of the request, and the reason why he had the Greil Mercenaries come to the village in the first place. "Before I begin, I would like to say one thing to you about your job. This job consists simply of delivering an item from one place to another, and nothing more. The reward that we have for you is nothing extravagant compared to what other communities may have given you, since we are still just a small village. In light of it, do you still accept this job?"

Greil nodded. "The Greil Mercenaries are willing to take on any job, no matter how big or small, for any kind of price. You need not to worry about the simplicity of the request."

"I see. Thank you for your kind cooperation." Mayor Bo said. "Well then, here is what we are asking of you. We would like you to deliver a very important gift to the Royal Family of Hyrule who resided in the castle at the heart of Hyrule Castle Town. It is a sword that is forged by our finest swordsman here in Ordon Village."

"That sounds pretty simple, alright." Gatrie said. "Shame that we won't do much, but if the Commander is fine with it, then I've got nothing to complain about.

"If I may ask, mayor," Titania asked the mayor. "Why do you require our help in delivering the sword to the Royal Family? I imagine that you and the village will do just fine with delivering the gift by yourselves. Not that I find anything wrong with it, of course."

"Yes, it is just as you said." Mayor Bo replied. "Normally, Rusl will be able to do just that on his own. However, we have received reports stating that there has been an abundance of Bokoblins in the fields of Hyrule, as of late. Rusl's swordsmanship alone won't be enough to fend off such large number of foul creatures. And it is exactly why we sought out your help, Greil Mercenaries."

"I see. A valid reason, with all things considered."

"So what you're saying is that we go deliver that sword for you to the Hyrulean Royal Family while striking down those nasty Bokoblins along the way, right?" Gatrie asked for clarification.

Mayor Bo nodded his head in response. "Precisely. There is one more specification to this job that I would like to speak to you about. Because the sword is a gift from our village, we would like you to take one of our people with you so that they could present the sword to the Royal Family as a representative of Ordon Village. It must be done this way, as it is very important to the village as a whole, to be recognized by the Royal Family."

"I see. I understand." Greil nodded. "Very well. The Greil Mercenaries are happy to offer our aid to you, and we understand how this job holds a special importance to the village as a whole. We are also willing to bring one of your inhabitants with us to present the gift to the Royal Family, assuming that their fighting capabilities are on par with ours."

"I imagine that it is Rusl that you are referring to, correct?" Titania asked. "True, when we first met him, he seems to be a very capable swordsman. I have no objections with bringing him along with us as a representative of the village.

Greil and Gatrie shared the same opinion as Titania. Shinon did not speak any words, though they took his silence as him having no objections as well.

"Uh, yes, well… About that…" Mayor Bo rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "There has been a… slight change of plans in regards to who will represent our village."

"Oh? What is it?" Greil asked.

"You see, just yesterday, Rusl came to me to request one thing. He said that he will not be the one to present the gift. In his stead, however, he wanted his pupil to be the one to do it for us."

"His pupil?"

"Yes. He insisted that his pupil will be the one to deliver the gift, and he reasoned that the boy has not yet seen the world outside of our small village, and it is a great opportunity for him to explore the land for himself. I see no reason to decline such a request. But what about you?"

Greil and Titania shared a brief look with one another to see what they both think about it. They then moved their gazes back at the round mayor. "Well, it depends on the circumstances." Titania replied. "What are your thoughts on this pupil's fighting capabilities?"

"I have seen his swordsmanship for myself, and to be frank, his skills are outstanding. Perhaps it may even outclassed Rusl's own."

"But he has yet to experience the world outside of the village, correct?"

"Yes, that is indeed correct."

The three mercenaries sitting at the table all shared looks with one another, to see what the others think about bringing such a person along with them in their journeys. Mayor Bo could only wait for them to make their decision, as they all sat there in silence.

"What's the problem? It should be obvious, right?" Shinon broke the silence, as he stepped in to share his thoughts on the matter. "We're not taking a kid with no experience in the battlefield with us. He's going to end up being a nuisance to all of us in the long run."

Everyone all turned to look at Shinon as he made his stance about it clear. Then, the mercenaries gazed back at the mayor. "True, what Shinon said is sound." Greil stated. "If what you said about the situation in Hyrule Fields is true, then guarding someone with no prior experience in the outside world against hostile creatures will prove to be very difficult. It would be beneficial if we follow the original plan, which is to have Rusl be the one to deliver the gift."

"Is that so? I see…" What they said about the matter at hand sounded just, and the mayor saw no reason to argue with them if it made absolute sense.

"… However," When Greil continued, all attention in the house was aim towards him. "Before I come to a decision, I would like to meet this pupil of his, to see if he has what it takes to venture the outside world with little difficulty. It seems like you and Rusl place a lot of trust in that boy's skills, and for that, I must see for myself."

"Ah! Yes, of course! You have my upmost gratitude, Commander!" Mayor Bo enthusiastically said, grateful that the leader of the mercenaries was willing to give Link a chance.

"Commander Greil, you can't be serious!" Shinon protested, as his stance on the matter at hand remained firm. "Even if his sword skills are as good as what the others say, the fact that he hasn't been outside of the village at all is a major problem for us. The moment he steps out of here, he's gonna cower in fear like an ordinary citizen would."

"Do you have a problem with my decision, Shinon?" Greil asked.

"Well… No, but…"

"Then it should be fine, yes? I just want to see the boy for myself before I decide whether or not he is suited for this."

Shinon was about to continue protesting, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not spout any more words against his Commander's choices. In the end, the archer sighed in defeat, as he went back to leaning his back against the wall.

"I am very glad that you have chosen to give the boy a chance, Commander Greil!" said Mayor Bo. "I will go and inform Rusl of this! You are free to join me, if you want!"

The mayor was about to move out of his seat to go find the swordsman somewhere in the village, until the red-haired woman spoke once more. "Please wait a moment, mayor. There is something important that we would like to notify you first."

The mayor looked at the horsewoman in confusion. "Something important? And what is that?"

"… It's about the Kingdom of Altea."

As soon as Titania spoke of Altea, Greil was reminded of it. "Ah yes, I've nearly forgot about it." he said. "Have you heard any reports about Altea lately?"

"Altea?" Mayor Bo cupped his chin in a thinking position, as he tried to recall any information that he had received about the kingdom in question. "Hmm… Can't say that I have. What of it?"

"It seems that Altea… has fallen to Dolhr."

"W-what?!" Mayor Bo shouted, shocked by the new piece of information given to him. "Altea has fallen?! Since when?"

"It has been a few days since the kingdom fell. We have received reports about it earlier today, actually." Greil replied. "According to the reports, during a battle against the army of Dolhr that King Cornelius took part in, a sudden alliance between Dolhr and Daien was formed, and the Altean army was overwhelmed, leading to King Cornelius' death. Soon after, the Kingdom of Altea was invaded by the alliance, and it was taken over in the process. The Princess was reported to be captured, and there was no sign of the Prince."

"What a shocking revelation…" Mayor Bo spoke, as he sat there contemplating what he had been told. "The last I've heard of Altea, the Kingdom of Hyrule was aiding it. Hyrule is considered to be the most powerful kingdom in the world. It's unfathomable for Altea to fall despite the help that it's been getting."

"Indeed." Greil agreed, sharing the same sentiment as the mayor. "We thought it best to inform you of this first in case Dolhr decides to march into the Kingdom of Hyrule next. We're not entirely certain when the day will come, but at least you can be well prepared for when the time comes."

"Hm… Yes, of course. Thank you for informing me of such news. We will make sure that our village is well prepared for when Dolhr decides to invade this land. Once we are recognized by the Hyrulean Royal Family, the village's protection will be certain with their aid."

Greil nodded. Ever since they spoke of the topic on Altea's atmosphere surrounding them became tensed and grim. So Greil decided to relieve the tension in the air by going back to the previous situation, as he smiled at the mayor. "Well then, why don't you introduce us to that pupil? I am very interested to see what he can do."

"Ah, yes! I almost forgot!" Mayor Bo exclaimed, as he stood up from his seat. "I will go find Rusl to inform him of our current situation! If you wish to join me, you're allowed to do so!"

As the mayor started to walk towards the front entrance of his house to exit, the mercenaries stood up in their turn, and all of them except Shinon followed the mayor to leave the house.

Shinon watched them leave as they were going to meet up with the boy with no outside experience. He let out a frustrated sigh, as he moved himself off the wall to join them. "What a pain…"

* * *

After they had washed all traces of dirt off the red silver bay horse's body, Link and Ilia found themselves relaxing at the spring by sitting on the sand, their feet almost touching the pure water as it flowed up the sand before flowing back down the pond. Epona stood next to them while they sat there relaxing.

The two young adults watched the water flowing from the small river and falling into the spring, producing mist that filled the cool atmosphere of the area. The sounds of the waterfall filled their ears as a form of relaxation.

"Mm… The air around here feels so nice…" Ilia said, as she felt the fresh mist touching her skin smoothly.

"Yeah, it is…" Link shared the same feeling, as he let the mist touch his skin as well.

"The Ordon Spring has always been my favourite place to go to, after a long day of work. The scenery here perfectly displays the wonderful aspects of nature, the atmosphere is always so pure each and every time I come here… It's simply amazing, don't you think?"

"I think so too." Link agreed.

Ilia turned her head towards the blond-haired man. "Hey, Link? Do you think that there's a benevolent spirit here that's been blessing the spring this whole time? I wonder if that's the reason why we're always attracted to this place no matter what…"

"Well, that might be the case." Link replied. "I wouldn't be surprised if the gods made it this way in the first place."

"Yeah… You might be right…"

The two of them went back to watch the beautiful scenery in front of them, as they continued to enjoy each other's company, along with Epona. Silence filled the air between them for a good while, until Ilia decided to break the silence.

"You're leaving for Hyrule Castle tomorrow, right?"

Link turned his attention towards his friend, surprised that she knew of him leaving tomorrow. "How did you know?"

"Rusl came by to our house yesterday." she explained. "He discussed with my father about how you'll be the one to present the gift to the Hyrulean Royal Family in his stead."

She slightly leaned back as she looked up to the blue sky. "I'm kinda jealous, really. Not only do you get to see the Royal Family, but you get to visit the capital too. I've heard a lot of good things about it. The fact that you get to see how luxurious Hyrule Castle Town is before most of us do is definitely something to be envious about."

"Uh… Yeah, I guess…" Link said, as he feigned excitement about going to the capital for the first time.

Unfortunately for him, Ilia noticed his fake enthusiasm, as she threw a displeased look at him. "Hey, what's with that tone of yours? That doesn't sounds like you're excited at all."

"W-what? Of course I'm excited about it!" Link tried to convince her by forming a wide grin on his face. "See? A huge smile like this doesn't lie!"

Ilia remained unconvinced. "Right… First off, a big grin like that doesn't suit you at all. And second, I'm _totally_ convinced that a guy who says 'Uh, yeah, I guess' is enthusiastic about it." she noted sarcastically.

"Uh… Sorry…" The blue-eyed man apologized sheepishly, as he moved his gaze back at the spring in front of them. "If you want to know, the reason why I'm not feeling too pumped about it is because… Well, it's a really important task that means a lot for Ordon Village. I'm not sure if I'm up to it, honestly."

"Really? This is a first, coming from you, Link."

"You think so? Well, anyway, the other reason is… Well… I don't think I want to leave the village. Not yet, anyway…"

"Is that true?" asked Ilia, as she became curious after witnessing a display of uncertainty from Link, of all people.

The blond-haired man nodded in response, as he continued to watch on.

Seeing how anxious he seemed to be, Ilia attempted to relieve his anxiety by encouraging and reassuring him. "It's true that the outside world sounds like a scary place to be in, but it's nothing for you to be fearful of. I believe that you can handle it because I've seen what you can do. Not just me. My father, Rusl, Colin, the whole village all believe that you can take on the outside world."

The blond-haired girl continued to reassure her friend, as she closed her eyes to reflect on past events that would give her encouragement credibility. "My father and Rusl spoke really highly of you and your skill with the sword. They would often say that you have improved so much that you easily surpassed Rusl quite a bit. And you became a role model to all the children here in the village. Talo would always try emulate you despite his father trying to discourage him from doing so. Beth would always admire your courage and willingness to help others. And Colin… He looks up to you the most. That I am sure. In short, you have no reason to be afraid of the outside world, because all of us here believe in your strength and courage…"

As she finished her words of encouragement to Link, she opened her eyes up to look at him again, and was caught by surprised upon seeing an unexpected reaction from him.

Link was simply looking deeply at the spring. There was nothing in his facial expression that suggested that he was showing gratification or enthusiasm after listening to what she had to say. Not even a smile was made apparent on his lips. All he had… was a sad expression on his face.

"Link? What's wrong?" asked the concerned Ilia, unsure if she had spoken too much.

Link seemed to snap out of it, as his eyes blinked a few times before he turned his head to her. "Oh! Sorry… I guess I was in a daze for a second there…"

"Did… Did I say something to make you feel this way?"

"No, no, of course not. You've done nothing wrong, Ilia…" Link replied as he smiled at her.

The sight of his smile made her recall a memory of the past. "… You're showing that smile again…"

"Huh?" Link stared at her confusingly. "What smile?"

"The one that you showed just now… It's the same one as before…"

His confusion increased, as he was not entirely sure exactly what she was talking. Ilia proceeded to elaborate on it. "… Do you remember the first time we met each other? It was when you first came to our village…"

"Yes… I remember." Link replied.

"Our first meeting… holds a special place in my heart." Ilia explained. "We were both young children back then. When I walked through the woods one day, I came across a small group of people crossing the bridge. I recognized Malon and her father, since they visited us quite often. And then, there was you and Epona."

"Yes, that's right… On that bridge, when our eyes crossed for the first time, I asked you if I can see the mayor." Link recalled. "When you asked me why I want to see him, I replied that I want to live in your village… That's how I became a resident of Ordon Village, and how I became a part of the family…"

"That's right…" Ilia nodded. "And when you first spoke to me, you were smiling back then as well… And that was the smile that I was referring to. A smile that is hiding one's sadness and pain…"

Link said nothing, as if the emotional walls that he built around himself had been dented. He never realized that she could already see past his facade back then.

"Link… I know that you've never told any of us about your past. Aside from you living with Malon and her family at Lon Lon Ranch for a few months, you've never said anything else beyond that… And I won't ask you about it if it's too much…"

She gazed down at the sand below her, as she placed her hands on her chest, her face showing an expression of sadness as well. "But… I want to help you. It pains me to see you like this, and that there is nothing that I can do to make you feel better. We've known each other for so many years, and you've helped me so much when I needed it the most. But when you're the one who needs help, I feel like I haven't done anything to return the favour…"

"Ilia…" Link listened as she let out her feelings about the circumstances surrounding his insecurities. It was the first time that he had heard her spill out useless she felt to really help him out despite her efforts. And he felt responsible for causing her so much trouble.

The blue-eyed man stared at the ground, as guilt filled every fiber of his being. He bent his knees so that he could rest his arms on it. "I… I'm sorry… You've been through a lot because of me…"

"Link…"

"I'm sorry that I haven't told you anything about my past… Honestly, I want to forget about it because of how painful it is to remember, now that my home is with Ordon Village… I know that you want to help me so much…" His fingers gripped against his knees, as he became fearful of the possibility of remembering his past again. "But… I don't think I'm ready to remember it all over again… Not yet…"

Ilia could see the internal struggle that Link was having within him. She could not imagine just how difficult it was for him to experience painful memories all over again, and she did not want to pry into it anymore than necessary, despite her desires to relieve him of his pain.

The only thing that she could do was placing her hand gently over his. The blond-haired man looked at the reassured hand placed on his own in surprise, then moved his gaze towards her. Ilia then gave him a fond smile. "Link… I'm here for you. If ever you need help… Always remember that I'm here by your side. Just as how you're always here by my side…"

"Ilia…" Link could feel the determination and commitment in her words. He could not help but return the warm smile with his own, as both of them locked eyes with one another.

It was as if a spark was formed between them at that moment, as the two of them stared deeply into each other's eyes, never wanting to break away from one another.

"Um… Link?" A voice called out to the blue-eyed man from behind, causing the two young adults to quickly break eye contact and pull their hands away from one another. Looking back at the entrance, they saw a familiar young boy standing there.

The young, shy boy with blue eyes had blond hair that was cut to the height of his ears at the middle. He wore a white sleeveless shirt with a large, grey cloth wrapped around his waist by a small, orange one, a dark green garment around his lower body, and a pair of sandals. Link and Ilia recognized him as Colin, Rusl's son.

"Oh! Colin, it's you!" Link exclaimed as he quickly got up on his feet and wiped the sand off himself with his hands. Ilia stood up as well in her turn. "What is it?"

"Well, my dad told me to go and find you…" Colin replied with his hands hiding behind his back in a shy matter. "He said that he wants to introduce you to a few people…"

"Oh, he said that? Ok, I'll go and meet up with him there!"

"Make sure to bring Epona with you back to your house on the way there, okay?" Ilia told him as she handed him the reins.

Link nodded as he accepted the reins from her. "Don't worry. I'll do just that."

"Well…" Colin started to speak, as he turned his body towards the direction of the village. "My dad is back at the village. I'll take you to him…"

"Alright. Lead the way, Colin." Link said as he moved forward alongside Epona, following Colin as they were about to head back to the village where Rusl was waiting for his pupil.

Before the blue-eyed man and his steed could past the entryway of the spring, Link stopped himself, as he had a few words that he wanted to say to his friend. "Ilia!"

"Yes? What is it, Link?" she asked.

"… When I come back from my journey… When I muster up enough courage until then…" Link turned his head back towards Ilia, showing her a warm smile. "… I promise that I will tell you everything."

Ilia smiled back, nodding her head. "I know you will…"

The two of them found themselves staring deeply into each other's eyes once more. After a moment had passed, Link broke off their locking gaze and proceeded to exit the spring to follow the young boy back to the village, leaving the young woman alone in the spring.

Ilia continued to fixate her gaze at the blond-haired man, even as he disappeared from her sights. Her mind began to think back to the brief moment she had with him before Colin's arrival, how Link shared his insecurities with her, how she revealed her desires to help, how their hands touched one another…

Her heart skipped a beat when she thought back on it. It only served to prove how she felt about him for the longest time. At that brief moment, it almost felt like they both shared the same feelings for one another…

"Maybe… When the time comes… I will tell him everything too…" she whispered to herself, as she placed her hands over where her heart was located. She then closed her eyes as she prayed to the gods to give him the courage to conquer his fears, and to give her the strength to support him when he needed it the most.

She opened her eyes again. She turned back towards the spring in order to spend more time in the area before she too returns to her home village…

… Only for her to let out a surprised gasp.

Standing in the middle of the pond of spring water, a mysterious person appeared out of nowhere, their presence never made known to anyone until now.

Ilia was startled to see someone there without her knowing. The person in front of her wasn't any of the villagers, nor was the person anyone that she knew. The individual was a complete stranger to her.

"What…? W-who are you?" Ilia asked, cautious of the person standing in the spring.

The unknown individual did not say anything. Instead, the person began to walk slowly towards the young woman, causing her to take a few steps back in response.

As soon as they started approaching her, her heart was telling her that the mysterious person is dangerous. "What do you want? Answer me, please!" Ilia asked again, as she slowly backed away from the approaching individual.

She received no response from the stranger. The stranger continued to approach her slowly, moving close enough that their vile nature was made apparent. Ilia felt a malicious intent radiating out of them, and the peaceful atmosphere of the Ordon Spring had turned grim.

"S-stay back!" she shouted. "I'm warning you!" Despite her warnings, the stranger's march went uninterrupted. It became very clear that she would be in danger if she remained in the mysterious individual's sights.

She quickly turned around and ran to the entrance, to leave the spring and escape from the stranger. However, just as she was about to run past the entrance, she suddenly collided with some sort of invisible wall that pushed her back and made her fall on her bottom.

"Urgh…!" she groaned after she fell to the ground, perplexed at what had happened. Looking up at the entrance, she noticed that some sort of purple magic barrier was blocking the entrance, preventing her from leaving the spring.

Once she realized that she was trapped there with the stranger, she turned herself around to see that the mysterious person had already gone closer. In her vain attempt to get away, she scooted backwards until her back hit the magic barrier, as fear filled her entire being. "N-no! Please, stop!" she begged as she raised her hand up in an attempt to stop the hostile individual from going any closer

The stranger stopped their movement as soon as both of them got close, as they stood over the frightened woman. A wicked grin appeared on the person's face, as they had plans for her.

"Yes… You will lure him to me…"

_End of Chapter_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! It's me, Anomynous Nin! Here with the latest chapter of Nintendo Legacy with the introduction of both the Legend of Zelda and Fire Emblem! Now, I just have a few things to say to you all that I feel the need to address after you've all read this chapter until the end.
> 
> As you can see, Malon, a character from Ocarina of Time, makes her appearance in the story despite not originally present in the Era of Twilight Princess. This is what I mean when I said that I will incorporate elements from other Zelda games into the world of Twilight Princess in this story. This is my attempt at making Twilight Princess story interesting and feel fresh without repeating the same thing in its original form. However, I understand that going through this route may cause some problems for some of you, since it basically contradicts and disrespects the source material. If that's the case, then I guess there's no turning back once I've already started.
> 
> Also, this chapter contains. So. Many. Character. Descriptions. For. Each. Character. I cannot believe that I had to describe this many characters introduced in the story in this chapter alone, and I feel like I didn't describe them well enough to make it plausible, no matter how hard I tried, and as a result, most of the character descriptions feel redundant. Well, it goes to show that I still have a lot of learn in the world of literature…
> 
> That is all from me, guys! Feel free to leave a review sharing your thoughts on the chapter! See you next time!


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